Laws of Nature 2
by DreamStoryWeaver
Summary: Last time on TFA: Bumble Bee was attacked and kidnapped by Wasp! Leaving battered and without his memory! Can the Autobots reboot their friend's memory banks? Or will Wasp finish the job? Part of a Ultimate Crossover idea Still in progress
1. Ch 1: Danger Lurks Near

**Transformer Animated**

**Laws of Nature 2**

**Ch 1: **_**Danger Lurks Near**_

It has been three weeks since Bumble Bee's brutal and near fatal abduction at the hands of Wasp. During those grueling days, when it was discovered the yellow Autobot suffered from a completely wiped memory core, Optimus had ordered for Bumble Bee to stay close to the base and had placed himself in charged of retraining the smallest Cybertronian. To which the eager little bug stuck to him like glue. While the young Autobot leader tended to his new protégé, the other Autobots went on their individual missions. One mission in particular was the search for the ringleader of the dreaded chop shop ring that had provided the necessary means for the rouge robot, Wasp, to torture and maimed the smaller Autobot. A mission that both Prowl and Bulkhead took to their sparks.

******

_**Downtown Detriot**_

Down in the lesser part of Detroit city, a suspicious looking man in a black leather jacket causally walked down a quiet sidewalk, overlooking the many parked cars as he strolled. He paused to admire a sleek and expensive looking Carmella in a pale blue paint job. A few blocks down and across the street, two very large figures observed the man from the shadows.

Bulkhead gritted his jaw hard as he aggregately watched the suspicious human pace from one end of the sidewalk to the other. "Come on… take the bait already!" He all but yelled it out loud forcing Prowl to place a servo on his large friend's mid region.

"Patience Bulkhead." The stealthy ninja bot kept his eyes on the human. "This may very well be the lead we've been looking for, but we need to be patient."

"I'm trying." Yet try as he might, the largest of the Autobots could still clearly envision his best friend's battered and broken body. It took everything in his circuitry to focus on the mission. "Is Captain Fanzone sure this guy's part of that… Chop Shop ring?"

"Yes. The police have been watching this particular human for weeks." The stealth ninja bot carefully read the change in movement and behavior of the human. "He's narrowed his choices down to three cars." From what he could tell it was the blue Carmella, the white Corvet and a pale yellow Sub-Compact. "When he deices which is worth more to take; we'll follow from a distance and hopefully find his leader."

Bulkhead could practically feel the mangled heap of the disassembling equipment in his servos as he carefully clamped them open and close. "Then after the police get all the evidence they need to lock them away, we shut down the shops for good, right?"

"Yes." Prowl, too, was looking forward to closing down the ring permanently and forever freeing the city of such an atrocity. "One way or other we will discover the identity of this 'Ring Leader' and put an end to his chop shops of horrors once and for all."

Another half hour had gone by before the human finally approached the compact car. The two Autobots watched and recorded how he picked the lock, opened the car door and entered the car, and finally hot-wired it. "There he goes!" Bulkhead stated as the stolen car drove pass them.

"Alert the police units. Remember to keep your distance and keep in contact." Using his superior agility, Prowl made his way to the rooftops and began his pursuit of the suspect. "Captain, your suspect is on the move in a pale yellow compact convertible."

"Copy that Prowl." From three blocks away, Captain Fanzone started his engine and began a safe distance pursuit. "Check point one just confirmed the same vehicle. The boys and I'll follow down here; you keep tabs on him from the rooftops."

The stealthy ninja bot leap from roof to roof with ease as he followed his quarry. "Affirmative." Understanding that evidence was highly important; every turn the auto-thief took Prowl noted, recorded and reported.

*****

_**High above the City**_

As this pursuit continued down on the ground none had noticed a helicopter was flying nearby. It flew high in the clouds, swaying as if pleased that no other flying machine was in the skies. There was a billboard ad for a new paintball center opening soon in the city with a large bull's-eye background pattern. The chopper suddenly made an impossible loop-de-loop and shot four electrical blasts at once, hitting and destroying the billboard.

An insane sounding laughter rang from the chopper. "Bumble bot stingers now Wasp's stingers!" In a fit of joy at his own long ranged skills, the mental malfunction landed on a nearby rooftop and transformed into robot mode to admire his work. His own stingers still out and ready for another target, along with an additional two protruding out of his chest region. "Now Wasp more than before!"

As the warped robot enjoyed another laugh, a distant moving object caught his ocular sensors. "Hmm?" Said object was the same stolen car being driven down the empty street. Only from Wasp's point of view the coloring of the car was switching from its pale yellow tint to a stronger, bolder hue. The vehicle, in a mental after image, transformed into a running robot for a few seconds then changed back. "Bumble bot?" The image changed back and forth so much the robot couldn't distinguish between the two. "No… Not Bumble bot." The image went away, but the design of the car was still the same. "Bumble bot gone!" The insane bot claimed angrily from his rooftop perch. "Wasp destroyed Bumble bot!"

*****

_**Streets of Detroit**_

Meanwhile, back down on the streets, the carjacker drove on without the slightest suspicion that he was being followed. "He's headed south on 3rd Avenue." Prowl had his optics zoom in on the street corner sign as the car thief made yet another turn.

Bulkhead was to the east of the location with his group of police units and human officers. They have been driving in a near parallel direction of the auto thief incase they had to cut off any escape. "First thing I'm going to do when we get there is smash the conveyer belt." The comment was loud enough to be picked up on the radio frequency they were using.

"Easy there Bulkhead." Captain Fanzone radioed from his car about a block behind the stolen vehicle. "I know you're still ticked off about what happened to Bumble Bee." In all honesty the chief of police couldn't blame the talking SWAT car. "Don't worry, you'll get to take apart the shop alright, but **only** after we get these hoodlums behind bars."

"This may be it." Tense for the capture; Prowl gripped the top of the roof ledge as he recorded every movement below. The suspect had circled a particular building through the used of multiple turns and detours design to through any pursuers off. "He's coming up to a warehouse on the left."

"I see'em." Captain Fanzone was parked on the other side of the street, just out of sight. "This could be it boys." The burly policeman radioed his team as someone from inside the warehouse stepped out to meet with the carjacker. "All units, get ready to move in."

******

_**Chop Shop Entrance**_

A man about 5.8", wearing a black biker jacket over a red muscle shirt and black pants and boots had walked out of the marked chop shop after hearing his errand boy's honk. "A compact, Lance?" He spoke in a deep, amused voice as he eyed the little car.

"Hey it ain't the size that matters, Pete." Lance, swayed his way over to the hood of the compact car and opened it to show off a very well designed engine. "It's how well the parts are." Obviously the hot car was used in underground street races, for the engine had been modified with nitro booster fuel lines. "Bet ya fifty bucks this baby's gonna bring us that bonus we've…"

"BUMBLE BOT!!"

"What the…!!!"

The huge surge of electricity came flying out of nowhere; striking the small car and destroying it instantly in a fiery blaze. The explosion acted like an alarm and had the workers within running out and away from the warehouse. Captain Fanzone quickly called for his forces to move in for damage control. As the police moved in among the panicked auto thieves; Prowl stood in place on the roof completely bewildered. They had been so close; so close to putting an end to that dreaded organization. As he came out of his shock he heard a strange, high-pitched voice screaming insanely.

"Wasp not remember! Bumble bot destroyed!! Never forget!!"

As the ninja bot looked up at the rouge copter he caught sight of a Decepticon insignia. He could only grit his teeth when he recognized the fleeing helicopter. "He's back."


	2. Ch 2: Precautions

******

**Chapter 2: **_**Precautions**_

_**Morning: The Plant**_

The sun slowly began to rise and lazily began to paint its huge canvas of a sky into a beautiful display of light blues, orange, gold with just a hint of purple in the clouds. The natural art show bled over the city much like a watercolor, giving the tall buildings of stone and glass a similar wash over of hues. _'I like this time…'_ The sight could be beheld even from the secret Autobot base, from a certain cyber-ninja's room to be more exact. _'The colors always come out different…'_ The light shining against the leave of the huge tree's leave all around him seemed almost magical. Especially the soft gold that shined off his armor… or rather his entire frame… and most of all in his wide eyes… The glistening light seemed to wash over the leaves, the bark, and especially the tiny white flowers that began to bloom right in front of him. _'Hmm, they like the colors too…'_ It made him happy to share moments like these with others.

"Bumble Bee?" The voice of the leader broke into his thoughts. The glowing in his eyes dimmed until their were blue again. The yellow scout blinked in confusion from his perch as if he just woken up. "Bumble Bee?" Optimus, after seeing what looked like glowing coming from the room, stood just outside the door. "Oh, there you are." The little scout was sitting neatly on a think branch facing outside, but still hidden with in the foliage so as not to attract attention from the streets. "What are you doing in Prowl's tree?"

The youngest Autobot had to pause for a moment. What was he doing up here? He remembered coming into the room hoping to see the sunlight shine the pretty colors in the sky, but he didn't remember actually climbing up the tree. Now that he thought about it, he had been waking up earlier than he needed to for a few days now. It felt strange to want to watch this sight over and over every day, but at the same time it felt so right. It was as if something was compelling him to seek out the light. Sitting in the tree made it more soothing somehow.

Not really knowing what to say, the little bot gave an honest answer. "Watching the colors." As the red and blue Autobot approached the tree, Bumble Bee began attempted to climb down from the branch he was on.

Optimus reached for the small Cybertronian and caught him once he decided it was safe to let go and fall into the thick red and blue arms. "I see. Well you can enjoy them more when the solar cycle ends later today." In a recent behavior pattern that developed between the two bots, Optimus shifted Bumble Bee until he was hitting on his hip and began to carry him out of the room. "Right now, we have a few mega cycles of training to complete."

"Okay."

******

_**Five hours later**_

Ever since the time Bumble Bee was bot-napped by the Decepticons, he had been staying as close to the base as possible. Optimus had taken the responsibility of retraining the smaller bot and has been 'home schooling' him on basic defensive maneuvers. Naturally it took a great deal of studying and practice and all manner of things he was expecting to lecture the little bot about is he ever complained. To he surprise Bumble Bee never did and had willingly carried out his tasks without a hint of compliant. Now here he was being upgraded to vehicle mode transformation practice.

Optimus was a firm teacher, but fair and Bumble Bee was eager and more than willing to learn whatever the young Prime had to offer. To the little bot's new way of thinking this 'Prime' was every bit like what his human friend, Sari Sumdac, said a 'Dad' was supposes to be. Although, this idea had set rather awkwardly with the Autobot leader at first, but seeing the trust form and grow in the little bot made it more than acceptable.

The new solar cycle started like any of the others, with an early morning drill. Laps were run to re-familiarize the small Autobot with his heel wheels. Optimus was relieved to see that this 'new' Bumble Bee naturally gotten the hang of this exercise rather quickly. Afterwards short exams were taken to see how well he was able to retain new information and understand their meaning. Which to bother their delight, the smaller bot passed often. The small yellow robot's new found curiosity made him an ample student and would study often.

However, when it came to long distance attacking, Prime had noticed that the little bot wouldn't use his stingers on the targets and would, instead, improvise with any projectile he could find and pick up. Though resourceful, the Autobot leader noted it as a possible sign that the smallest Cybertronian may not have access to his weapons yet. Other than that, there was only one other exercise that Bumble Bee didn't seem to be grasping very well; transforming.

"That's it Bumble Bee. Focus." Optimus urged on as the yellow robot in front of him struggled with bending and reforming his body. The hood was already in place. The doors formed perfectly. Wheels were in place. Now if he could just snap the two sides together. "You almost have it. Just focus."

"I-I'm trying!" It hurt. It hurt really bad! But he was so close. All his training was about to pay off. _'If I could just change for the first time I know the Prime would be proud.'_ He really wanted to show he could transform, but try as he might it just hurt too much. With a short yell his body twisted and flung back to normal robot mode. "I still can't do it." Bumble Bee whimpered a little at his failure. That was the sixth try today. He couldn't understand why he was able to learn the rest of his lessons well enough and not learn this one. "Why can't I change like you?"

Prime walked over to the yellow scout as he looked up at him with a most helpless look on his faceplate. "Either you're unable to fully access the data or you could still be missing some parts." As he spoke the young Autobot leader kneeled to help the smaller bot back up to his feet. "Either one could be interfering with your vehicle mode transformation."

This had a chest fallen effect on the little bot. He didn't like disappointed his new mentor and began to wonder if he'd ever be truly fixed. "I'm sorry Dad-bot." The strange name had been forming into a habit for the past few days ever since the yellow robot made discovery of Prime's job being virtually similar to that of a human father.

"It's alright Bumble Bee." He placed a comforting servo on the little bot's shoulder. "You were trying to do your best and that's was counts. A little more practice and you're sure to get it." He returned the smile the scout gave him and checked his internal clock for the time. Ever since Wasp attacked and dismantled Bumble Bee, the Autobot leader made it a point to patrol every inch of the city for the fugitive himself.

The thought of anyone else falling into the destructive servos of the insane Cybertronian was a fear that laid heavily on the Autobot leader. Primus had truly been watching over the little yellow scout at night. Although, the incident had left Bumble Bee with a tabula rasa personality, at the same time Optimus was somewhat grateful for it; it prevented his protégé from suffering any relapses in his processor. _(Nightmares)_ Which, thankfully, meant that Bumble Bee couldn't be tortured by the images of Wasp harming him, on a mental level. That alone gave them all a small measure of peace.

"I'll be going on my patrol in a few nano clicks. Today, Prowl will be taking over to teach you a few close combat techniques." In a gesture one would normally find in a father explaining to his child; Optimus leaned in a little closer and held his index finger pointing up. "He'll be in charge, so I'll expect you to show him the same attention and respect you've shown me, alright?"

The little yellow Cybertronian immediately broke out in a grin and eagerly saluted. "Yes sir!" His newfound enthusiasm was becoming regular behavior pattern since his confidence had build during his training. It brought a strange yet proud feeling in Prime's circuits.

"Hey guys!" The two bots turned to find their tiny human friend, Sari, greeting them as she approached from the entrance.

"Sari!" Like a little kid seeing his favorite person, Bumble Bee ran right over and gently scooped up the little girl. Holding her pretty much like she was a porcelain doll as he brought her close and rocked a little from side to side. Ever since the incident with the Decepticons the week before, he had gotten into the habit of 'carefully' hugging her whenever she was around.

"Hey Bumble Bee!" She happily returned the hug and relaxed, knowing that he wasn't going to put her down anytime soon. Another habit he had gotten into was carrying her around in his arms like a teddy bear whenever she came to visit. Not that she was complaining. "I heard you've been practicing to transform."

"Yeah, I tried today." His wide optical sensors took a small downcast appearance as he remembered his little failure earlier. "Still can't do it though." However, he recovered quickly, to show some praise to his mentor. "But, Dad-bot said I'm getting better."

"I don't get it." She turned towards the red and blue Prime with a questioning look. She knew about Optimus' new nickname. The old Bumble Bee never kept anything from her and this 'new' Bumble Bee didn't turn out that much different in that aspect. "I thought we found all his missing parts."

"It's hard to tell for sure wither or not that's the case." How Prime wish he knew though. The loss of memory was one thing, but a robot functioning with missing pieces was something else entirely. "Still he's made some improvement since last time. He's able to go into his street lodge mode now without difficulty. That and he's able to activate his wheels in robot mode now."

That achievement brought another boost of enthusiasm from the yellow robot. "Wanna see how fast I can go?" Both Optimus and Sari blinked and slowly grinned at him. The need to show off, no matter how innocently it sounded, was still there. It was the first real action of familiarity they have seen in him in a long time.

"Ahem." The quite sound caught everyone's attention and had them turning towards the entrance once more. Prowl stood tall with his servos crossed in front on his chest plate watching them.

At the sight of the ninja bot, Prime straightens himself out to greet him. "Prowl. Just in time."

The stealth ninja bot didn't say anything at first. His stern, serious face was looking all the more serious than usual. Bumble Bee couldn't help but shift uncomfortably at his stone like stare. "Ready to go?"

"Go?" The shorter robot parroted.

"Go where?" Sari, asked suspiciously.

"I put Prowl in charge of combat practice for Bumble Bee today." Optimus explained then took a good look at the ninja bot. He knew the young leader had ordered that Bumble Bee was to be kept at the base as much as possible. "Though, I was under the impression you were going to teach him here."

Prowl kept his vision locked onto Optimus. "There's been some 'excitement' going on in the city." He glanced briefly at the little yellow bot before continuing. "It might accelerate and spread its way down here. I'll be taking him to a more 'private' location where he won't be distracted."

"I see." There had been trouble. The hidden meaning was clear enough. "Carry on then. I'll expect a full report when you get back." With that the Autobot leader left to begin he's patrol, but not before he checked the monitors.

Seeing that the message went through, Prowl turned his attention to the unsuspecting metallic amnesiac. "Come along Bumble Bee."

"Umm… can I bring Sari with me?" It had been made clear days ago that Sari was now considered a security blanket by the smaller bot. Wither it was a result of the two of them bonding over the time they had shared or her getting injured in the last battle, none were sure. Bumble Bee just didn't want to lose sight of her whenever she came to visit. "Please?"

"Of course." It would probably be wiser this way as well. "After all, she needs to catch up on her lessons as well." No sense in taking any chances there either. "We'll start with stealth." He led the two to the door taking a quick survey before continuing. "We're going to imagine that Decepticons are flying overhead. Follow my lead exactly and stay close."

"Yes sir." The little yellow scout nodded and did as he was told.

Prowl took them through a series of back allies and roads. Avoiding any and all traffic and especially any wide-open areas are much as possible. Throughout all this the smaller Autobot followed closely to his new teacher, stopping and waiting whenever told too, and moving when ever signaled too. Naturally there were some minor difficulties due to the fact that he wasn't as graceful or swift as the ninja bot. That and the fact that he insisted on carrying Sari around, which interfered when he had to climb, jump or roll towards anything, but he faired well enough not to get left behind. The tiny child tried numerous times to convince him to let her ride on his shoulders, but he was surprisingly stubborn against it. What if she fell and got hurt again? Although Bumble Bee followed the instructions to the letter without question, Sari couldn't help but feel that something was terribly wrong.


	3. Ch 3: Rhyme and Reason

*****

**Chapter 3: **_**Rhyme and Reason**___

The now familiar frame moved quickly yet as silently as possible through its surroundings. _'This… movement…'_ Occasionally, it would pause to climb or leap, or even crouch low to the ground and nearly crawl. _'I have done this movement before…'_ Soon he began to assist the frame to move faster. To hop off a surface rather than climb back down. _'What did the… teacher… called it…?'_ He was mindful of the tiny being the framed carried and kept his participation to a minimum. _'Stealth…'_ Familiarity gripped at him as the frame continued to move more swiftly and gracefully with his energy. _'I used this stealth before…'_ Uneasiness slowly crept into him. He draw away his control from the frame and had it stay close to the teacher that had occupied his vision. _'I moved this way… to hide…'_

******

It took about an hour or so, but the stealthy Autobot and his shorter 'shadow' for the day managed to make their way to the docks. With a swift flick of the wrist the security line to an old fishing boat, large enough to support two robots around Bulkhead's size, was cut loose. Following a previous request from his teacher, Bumble Bee hid in the cargo haul of the ship in order to practice how to hide in the shadows. The ninja-bot had explained that sometimes a warrior would have to hide in plane sight when defending himself in battle. Since his bright color armor obviously stood out as clear as day, the younger bot had to learn how to hide in dark areas. Normally, the now timid robot would be reluctant to wander into a dark unknown area, however with his human playmate by his side, the exercise quickly turned into a game of 'Hide & Seek'.

Through all this, Prowl kept a stern watch over the sky as the young ones played in the cargo hold. Their occasional playful laughter and delighted squeals echoed softly in the deep haul of the ship. He'll have to make a note to remind the amnesiac scout that part of practicing 'stealth' is being 'silent'. However, considering the need of secrecy at the moment, he had decided to overlook it just this once. After all, with the plan the slim ninja-bot had to follow, it could be sometime before the two could have fun together again. So, he gave them this time together as the small island began to approach ever closer.

******

_**Dino-bot Island**_

The summer sun had been shining brightly through out the lush green trees and colorful flora. _'This place…'_ The birds were singing cheerfully from their homes or flying gracefully from branch to branch without a care. _'I know this place…'_The water reflected the beams of sunlight like a living mirror, making it dance and sway with every moving wave as they lapped up against the shore and base of the boat. _'It's safe here…'_ He just stared wide-eyed at his new surrounding, never recalling seeing anything like it before yet at the same time it felt like coming home for the first time in a very long time. _'It will be safe here…'_

******

"Wow. It sure is nice out here." Sari commented as her mechanical friend agreed with a short grunt. It had been a while since she the last time she was on the island; least of all to enjoy its natural beauty like this.

"I figured this would be a more suitable training area." Prowl took a moment to admire the tranquil scene before him and enjoy the quiet. "It's out of the way so as to avoid any accidents." He took a few steps to look over a small ledge that faced the beach. "Spacious and varies in terrain for multiple situations." He glanced back at the main land out of the corner of his vision. "And above all reclusive, so as not to attract any unwanted attention." Though he thought out loud under his breath Sari had caught that last sentence, more importantly, the tone of voice that was used to say it.

"It's pretty!" The little yellow bot cried out like a three-year-old on his first visit to a park.

"Yes… it is rather… pretty." Still not used to the smaller bot's newfound enthusiasm, Prowl shook off the awkward feeling. "Moving on. We'll be starting with the basics of close combat." The black and gold bot settle down into his lotus position. An indication for his young charge to sit and listen, to which the yellow sub-compact did and even imitated the position with Sari sitting on his lap. "Although it is true that the Decepticons out match us in size and power, there are many ways to defeat them in battle. The most assured way is to find their weakness and strike the instant it's revealed. However, before you can learn to attack, you'll need to learn how to dodge and defend. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" Bumble Bee gave the slim ninja a salute while keeping Sari in lap.

"Good." Prowl stood back up and began walking up towards the forest portion of the island, an indication for Bumble Bee to follow. "Let's begin by observing our surroundings."

*****

**Back in the City**

The air was filled with the sound of sires blaring. Warning all other vehicles to move out of the way as a huge military grade helicopter came barreling down the street with two large ground based vehicles in hot pursuit. Occasionally the fire truck would unleash a blast of water and foam at the copter in an attempt at slowing it down. Instead the minor attacks encouraged the air born machine to detour in its flight path towards more open territory. The fire truck and a SWAT car had been chasing down the green helicopter from below for the past two hours until finally reaching a safe enough distance from the city.

"No more!" The insane robot in disguise screeched as it flew madly threw the open air. He swayed and twirled at an insane rate, nearly crashing into the nearby buildings. "Wasp not remember no more!" He flew over another street and ambulance sped up just seconds before, and transformed into the Autobot medic.

The older bot immediately extended his magnetic weapons and shot at the copter, snatching it by its tail. "Hold him still, Ratchet!" Optimus called towards the med-bot as he transformed into robot mode and quickly tried to calculate the distance between them and the copper.

"Easier said than done!!" The Great War veteran strained against the reinstating pull on his electromagnets. Trying desperately to stop the flying machine from thrashing around and causing any severe damage to the surrounding buildings. "Quick that thrashing before I slam you into that roof!!"

"Got to aim this just right…" Optimus grudgingly watch for an opening before sending his energon ax up towards the sky and striking the flying machine at the base where the tail met the body. The attacked had thrown off the copter's trajectory and allowed Ratchet to reel it further down from the sky. "Bulkhead, bring him down!"

"With pleasure!!" With a massive twirl and a hard flick, the largest of the earth-bound Autobots hurled his devastating wreaking ball at the assailant. At the angle Wasp was in there was no way Bulkhead would miss. Finally he could score a hit for his little buddy's suffering…

In a movement that could have only been born from insanity, Wasp thrust forward and twisted into the attack. "Grraaa! No more!" The maneuver nearly snapped his tail section threw, but succeeded in having the wreaking ball graze his side and dislodge the ax from his wound. "Wasp not want remember no more!" The wrecking ball had now blocked the magnetic field and allowed the reneged transformer to recklessly flee once again towards the city.

"Grrr, nuts and bots!" Bulkhead stomped hard on the ground causing all the parked cars within a two-block radius to set off their alarms. "He got away again!"

"Easy kid." Ratchet tried calming the younger bot down before he cause any more damaged to the road. "He's getting more and more reckless with every attack. Hopefully next time we'll ground him for good."

"This is completely neurotic." Optimus grumbled as he watched the direction the helicopter flew in. Like Bulkhead, he too was frustrated, but apart from that he was completely dumbfounded. "What possible reason could he have to attack the humans? It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe I can shed some light on the situation." The voice had them looking down upon the chief of the Detroit, Michigan police force.

"Captain Fanzone."

"These are pictures of every car that nutso robot attacked." The burly captain took a quick look through them to make sure they were all there. "Witness all say that before each attack they all heard someone or something screaming 'Bumble bot' before getting blasted at."

"Bumble bot?" Half of the strange name was recognizable enough. "Bumble Bee!" Quickly the Autobot leader kneeled down to see the pictures; adjusting his ocular sensors, enhancing the focus and resolution until the miniature images became clear. "Yes. They're all yellow compacts."

Understandably, Bulkhead practically raged at the suggested notion. "He's hunting Bumble Bee again?!" The insane Decepticon all but permanently offline his little buddy the last time they had met.

"More like randomly attacking anything that looks like him." Captain Fanzone stated to the giant fuming bot's question as he held out more pictures of billboards, car lots, and even the large advertising television screen at Detroit Central Square. "All of these places were advertising the sale of a new hybrid car, fresh off the assembly line."

Ratchet soon saw the strange pattern Captain Fanzone was trying to indicate. "Considering the condition he left Bumble Bee in, I seriously doubt Wasp thinks he's still online." The insane ranting was beginning to make more sense now, and all that much more disturbing. "Chances are he rather not be reminded of the kid."

To Optimus Prime, the insanity of it all became all but incomprehensible. "In other words, he'll keep attack anything that looks like Bumble Bee in order to forget him entirely."

*********

_**Dino-bot Island**_

Prowl surveyed his surroundings very carefully. The foliage was thicker here, but only in a few certain places. There were some tight spots where trees were clustered together with high bushes growing like a small fence at their base. A mechaniod larger than himself would have a difficult time moving through those indeed. However, one tree in particular had rather interesting foliage that was a bit too low to the ground. With a sudden burst of speed and energy, the ninja bot easily jumped and flipped over the tree and right in front of his young student, whom, jumped a bit in surprise. The yellow bot was sitting up straight with his leg joints bend to his chassis and his back against the large tree and had been trying to hide behind two heavy foliaged bushes by holding them like branches.

"Not too bad." The shadows had tone down the yellow of his armor and he even managed to stay very still and as quiet as he could. "I almost wouldn't have detect you in the shadows if you hadn't shifted." Unfortunately, it just wasn't going to be good enough if the situation were real. This training was going to take more time than he first realize.

The shorter robot gave a small chuckle as he put down the bushes he was using and stood up to his full height. He had learned quickly that his new teacher taught very differently from his Dad-bot. Prime's lessons had always involved a lot of studying and practice. These new lessons were more like playing, especially since Sari was able to be there with him and join in. "You're very good at this game, Mr. Prowl."

"This isn't a game." The ninja bot crossed his arms across his chest as he spoke sternly, startling the small bot in front of him. "In order to escape from an enemy, you'll need to learn how to hide yourself properly and as quickly as possible." As if to get his message across, Prowl poked the little bot in front of him in his insignia. "Otherwise you're nothing more than a target until you're caught or learn how to fight back."

"I… I'm sorry." The lessons may have been fun, but it looks like the teacher wasn't going to be. _'Maybe it would be best to ask Sari on how to act around more serious teachers.'_ It was then Bumble Bee realized that he hadn't seen his tiny human friend since the lesson had started. "Sari! Where'd she go?" Immediately the yellow robot started searching threw the low bushes and behind rocks. "Sari?!" He was starting to panic now, thinking he lost her. "Sari?!"

The eight-year-old child in question was looking down on him and his little panic attack from her perch on a strong branch. "Heh-heh, BOO!!"

The robot all but fell into the shrubbery he was searching in before looking up at a nearby tree. "There you are!" The tiny girl was sitting about two braches above his head. "How'd you get way up there?"

"I climbed, silly." Which, she proceeded to do downward once Bumble Bee began reaching up to get her. It situation was mush like a child acting like if he stretched out long enough he'll reach the cookie jar on a high counter.

"Not bad." Prowl only wished his mechanical student had put as much thought into his hiding places. "Though next time don't take so long to answer when you're called." He watched Bumble Bee cradle the small human girl the instant she slid into his arms again, before speaking further. "What were you doing up there?"

"Keeping an eye you guys." Sari replied coolly. The way Prowl had spoken to Prime earlier had sounded a little suspicious to the redhead. Not to mention the sudden serious look Optimus adopted afterwards, and Prowl's having them sneak around by suggesting they imagine they were avoiding Decepticons in the air. "I brought my binoculars with me today." It was something she had been planning on teaching her amnesiac friend about before the surprised field trip. "They let me see things that are far away." She climbed up to the yellow bot's shoulder and held them up so he could see through them.

The yellow bot had to 'blink' a few times before his ocular sensor got used to the new lens in front of them. "Coooool!"

"_**Prowl. Come in."**_ Optimus Prime voice rang clear in Prowl's COM link frequency.

"You two go on ahead." The ninja bot waved the two off as he made it look like he was sitting to meditate on a boulder. "We'll take a small break and continue in about thirty nano clicks."

"Okay!"

He watched and waited until they were a safe distance away before touching a digit to his helm to answer his leader's call. "Yes, Optimus?"

"_**Wasp is definitely behind the attacks."**_Optimus and the others were on the scene of yet another attack. This time it was orange bug and the assault was much closer to their base at the plant. _**"All the attacks seem to involve mostly yellow compact cars."**_ He watched as the remaining two members of his team helped with cleaning up the remains of automobile. There was hardly anything left of the original car, and even the road itself was charred from the attack. _**"Ratchet thinks he may be trying to wipe out what he considers any remaining trace of Bumble Bee's existence here in the city."**_

"I see… Ironic," and a rather curl cosmic joke if the ninja bot had anything to say about it. He glanced over at his charge and found the little robot thoroughly in grossed with watching two small white butterflies fluttering and circling one another as Sari was explaining what they were. "He's doing everything he can to forget Bumble Bee," Like a small child, the yellow scout tried reaching slowly to touch one of the winged insects that had landed on a flower; causing it to flutter off for a moment and land right on the back of his hand "and yet Bumble Bee is the one that doesn't remember."

"_**One thing's for sure. It'll be too dangerous for Bumble Bee to be in the city at this time."**_ Optimus paused to study the charred road in front of him. The strength of the blast was much stronger than the last ones from previous attacks. Which, told the young leader that their fugitive switched from random attacks to hunting. _**"I want you to go ahead with your plan and keep Bumble Bee on Dino-bot Island. At least until we bring Wasp down."**_

"Understood."


	4. Ch 4: Trail Separation

**Message from the DreamStoryWeaver**

_**To all my loyal readers, new and old, I thank you sincerely for your support and your reviews. I'd like to apologize to all of you for keeping you waiting for so long. School has been nothing but a huge strain for the past month. Being a college student, unfortunately, puts me in the position where my grades must come before my pleasures. I'm sure there are many of you whom can relate and I, again, thank you for your patience. To show my apology to its truest form I have added not one but three whole new chapters to this FanFic to make up for my lack of persistence. I greatly hope you will all enjoy these new chapters.**_

*****

_**Chapter 4: Trail**__**Separation**_

'_I like it here…' _He watched the semi strange new world around him through the frame that carried him. _'Its feels nice here…' _There was a powerful familiarity there among his new surroundings. A connection of sorts, one that he hasn't been able to feel for a long time since he first woke up within this odd vessel._ 'Everything is so pretty…_' The sounds he heard around him were soothing, just as were the lights that filtered through the leaves, just like the one he had climb into earlier in the day._ 'The other place was nice too, but there's more here…' _Thinking about that particular room had his turning the frame's vision around to study the taller and quiet companion in front of them._ 'The teacher thinks so too, I think…' _He could read the stances and movement of the other metal creature whom also gave him a sense a familiarity. Though he wasn't sure why, he was sure it had something to do with his vessel. The composure of the other one no longer felt at all cold and distance now._ 'He sure looks more relaxed and happy out here than back at the…'_

It was then that he realized he didn't know the name of the place in which his vessel dwelled in._ 'the… What was it the robots called it?' _Every one of his different caregivers had called it something different. Even the tiny best friend had a name for it._ 'Sari… she called it a secret __**lair**__…' _The word didn't settle well with him. Though he didn't understand why but there was something almost malicious about that particular word. _'Hmm… the Dad-bot called it a __**base**__… but isn't that a the bottom of something?' _He was sure that was the definition for the odd word. He remembered the red and blue guardian saying so at one point during the schooling._ 'The red and white grumpy bot called it a __**plant**__… but all these green stuff are plants… even the tiny pretty things are plants…' _The smallest of the best friends had mention that the first time he had came to the outside._ 'How can something big and hard be a plant?' _The structure seemed to be made of a material far stronger than the frail looking green. Stone perhaps? Seemly more confused than before the being decided to move on before he forgets of what he was thinking of before._ 'Hmm, Bulkhead called it something else too… He called it a __**home**__…' _There… that word rang true more than any of the others. It settled warming at his core. _'__**Home**__… Like that one better…'_

_*****_

_**Dinobot Island: Hours Later**_

The three mainland visitors had spent hours hiking all throughout the small island in the bay. Bumble Bee couldn't at all recall seeing anyplace so vivid and colorful before. He knew the city had a park but it wasn't at all like this new place surrounded by water. Many of the things he saw there had looked familiar and reminded him a little of the park Sari had taken him to on his, believed, first tour of the city. There were certainly a lot more trees and plants there than the park, and more 'fuzzy' creatures that were either too big or too small to be like the ones he saw the humans walk with at the park. Also, without all the extra little people around it was mush quieter and spacious. It must be a very special place if it had to be set apart from the mainland.

"Well it's getting pretty late." Sari stated after a good long stretch and yawned while sitting on the yellow robot's shoulder. The sun had long since begun to set into the late afternoon. "Guess that means its time we headed back."

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Prowl _casually_ glanced in her direction, not giving anything away, as he continued to sit in his lotus position. "We're going to be camping out here for a few days."

While the human child eyes widen in surprise, the new word instantly brought curiosity to Bumble Bee's new way of thinking. "What's camping?"

"It's great!" Instantly excited at the thought of spending even more time with her friend, the redheaded eight-year-old was practically hopping at the notion. "You don't remember but we went camping before." This was the perfect chance to see if she could trigger any more memories like last time. "We got to roast marshmallows, told scary stories, looked up at the stars. Ooh! We even fought off a space barnacle monster!"

At that final set of words, the youngest Autobot tilted his head off to the side in confusion at his best friend's words. "A what?"

"Let's save that for tonight." The ninja bot quickly interrupted before the matter could be explained any further. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a paranoid mini bot. Especially with what he was about to do. "In the mean time, Bumble Bee, I want you to scout ahead and find a suitable campsite. I'll be taking Sari home."

"WHAT?!!" As was expected, the young Sumdac girl practically exploded with negatively at the stated idea. "No way!"

The yellow Autobot also didn't like the idea of his best friend leaving. Especially since he still wasn't fully sure what this 'camping' thing was about. "Can't she stay?"

"Not without supplies." The black and gold Autobot stated gently but firmly as he began to lead the way back to the dock. "And it is getting late." Too further prove his claim he indicated towards the low sun on the horizon.

"I'll call my dad and ask him to pack my bag." Sari countered quickly as she pulled out her cell phone and began checking for a signal. "We'll just go over, pick it up and come right back."

"By that time, it will be too dark to set up camp." Prowl argued as calmly as possible. He knew the eight-year-old would be persistent and would have to deal with her the most in this situation. Its not that he didn't want the child to be there, it was just that if he was going to train the minibot in self defense, he couldn't have him getting distracted by his playmate.

That way he shot down her solution was subtle… Too subtle. Something was definitely wrong. "I'll ask for just the bare essentials and a pop-up tent." There was no way she was just going to leave quietly. Especially considering how easily frighten the smaller Autobot tended to be around new experiences. "I promise, it'll only take a minute."

Said yellow bot didn't like this idea at all. _'He's going to take my friend away…?' _He never did anything new like this before without his tiny best friend. Even when he was learning from his Dad-bot, Sari was allowed to be there with him. Even during the time she was recovering from getting hurt by the 'big bad bots' that made him work as a slave-bot for a little bit. He **always** had her with him. "Please Mr. Prowl…"

The slim ninja-bot would have said 'no'. He should have said 'no'. There wasn't a time when he wasn't able to say 'no' to the yellow bot. However, there was something in those large, more innocent than usual, optics that prevented him from putting enough steel into the word to make it final. "Alright." It was against his better judgment, however, if his objective is going to succeed he have to keep the yellow robot calm and cooperative. "But only '_**if**_' her farther allows it." With any luck her father wound settle the situation and have her stay in the safety of the tower. "I'll take her back so she can get her things _**if**_ she is allowed. I'm faster on my own, so it won't take as long."

Bumble Bee froze. The earlier relieved smile had completely vanished and was replace by a look a pure and utter shock. "Y-you're… gonna l-leave me h-here…?" He was absolutely still when the full realization of his teacher's words meant. "A-alone?"

Fear shone in his optics as brightly as the intensified innocence the taller bot as seen earlier before. It nearly unnerved the black and gold Autobot. "For only a short time, yes." The younger bot had begun to hold Sari closer to his chassis and nearly took a backward baby away from Prowl. The other Autobot reached out and caught his shorter charge's shoulder so that he couldn't make a run for it with the child. "You're going to need to learn how to do things on your own soon enough." Although he kept his tone calm and gentle it did nothing to stop the yellow frame in front of him from shacking. "Finding a campsite on your own will be a good practice for you."

'_That look again…'_ The eight-year-old could only stare up at the timid mech. His face bored the exact same fearful expression had worn during his first couple of weeks of coping with not knowing who he was or what had happened of him. "Promise you'll bring me right back!" She demanded of the other Autobot. She had to convince her father to give her permission. There was no way she could just leave Bumble Bee like this. "Promise!"

Prowl looked down at his human friend and noted the look on her face. Determination, frustration, helplessness were all emotions he knew and understood perfectly and there they were looking right back at him. For a moment he was thrown back to solar cycle his master's spark had joined the Well of all Sparks. "I promise."

The redhead turned in his large arms so that she could face him. "I'll be right back, Bumble Bee." She gave what she hoped was a convincing smile and even placed a hand of either side of his face to keep him looking at her own face. "Make sure you find a good spot, okay?"

'_Be brave…'_ A soft voice had called out in his processor. The nervous robot looked down at his tiny friend. _'You need to be brave…'_ He heard this voice before. It was back at the bad bots' cave. "…O-o-okay..." Surely he could be brave for Sari…

He was silent when his dark and silent teacher untied the line of the huge boat they had used earlier. _'It'll be okay…'_ the same small voice echoed in his mind. He fidgeted a little but didn't protest when he was relieved of his little friend by the older robot. A twinge of fear began to grip at his core again. _**'Don't go…'**_ He thought as whimpering soon escaped his vocalizer as she was carried away from him and up on the deck of the ship. 'Its going to be okay…' the echo rang softly in an attempt to calm the torrent of emotion throughout the frame. The aquatic vessel was already being pulled out by the tide as Prowl made his way to the steering consol. _**'Please, don't go…'**_ As the human child floated farther and farther away from the dock the mini-bot hardly realized his was following her from the docks.

Sari's young heart was breaking as she watched the amnesiac chased along side the boat. "Pick a really good spot, Bumble Bee!" He was actually reaching out to her and his eyes were leaking again. "We'll be right back!" He finally had to stop when he had reached the edge of the docks. He just stood there, eyes locked with hers, as he slowly pulled his servo back and held it against his collar. "I promise, I'll come back!" She had to blink in short rapid sessions to stop from shedding tears of her own so as to not worry her friend any further.

The youngest Autobot simply stood there watching the large dark colored ship float away with his little playmate on board. "Sari…" He shook and rapped his arms around himself in an attempt at comfort, as his intakes began to hitch. "S-sari…" Clean, oil tears collected in his wide blue optics, ran down his gray faceplate, and spilled onto the old worn out wood beneath his feet as he crouched down and settled on his heels. "S-s-sa-a-r-r-ri…"

As the youngest Autobot sat crouched and crying at the edge of the platform he didn't realized that he was being watched. High in the branches of the larger sets of trees, a pair of sharp eyes had witnessed the entire event. He had discovered the small group earlier but had chosen to remain unnoticed since the Bike Robot was present among them. The bright yellow armor glowed brightly against the sun as deep sobs from the lone being carried traces of fear and loneliness up towards the trees where the watcher stood and outward towards the mainland… where another had been roaming the streets.

******

_**Detroit City Limits**_

Among the busy sidewalks of Detroit, people wear hurrying along home or preparing to enjoy a night out on the town. Older teenagers, dressed for clubbing, were out and about heading towards the latest rave, dance, party, or any other reason to be out of the house. With so many teens dressed in a mixture of styles from tight to baggy, it was no wonder no one had seemed to noticed a particular teenage boy. Short, white colored hair, combed at the side so that his face was framed, yet spiked up and out in the back; gave him the look of a rouge rebel. He wore a white sleeveless shirt that had thin vertical pin stripes moving down his body and it was matched with a pair of slightly baggy white pants that where stained with black down near where his boots were. His lean muscled arms sported long black gloves that ended up well above the elbows, which also sported a row of short straps clamped on his forearms and strange, almost future looking, gauntlets over them.

"Hmm?" The mysterious young man turned sharply towards the north as his body suddenly surged with energy. "Ah, I needed a boost." The strange The same golden energy that had risen him from the soil of the forest floor. _"So… you've moved… Yes you moved farther beyond this city…'_ Mindful of his surroundings yet till surging from the power boost, his body shone dimly in a controlled neon purple glow. So well controlled that no one else had been able to notice. _'But I can still feel you… Yes, as faint as it is, your energy has gotten stronger…' _The glow began to seep down to the souls of his feet and into the ground. It swirled with the golden glow beneath the tar ground, until it connected and merged, creating an invisible path seen only by the stranger._ 'Which means the connection is slowly being linked back together.' _With an all knowing smirk, the mysterious young man began walking in the direction where the energy wave had come from."It'll take time, but I will find you."


	5. Ch 5: Lone Encounter

*****

_**Chapter 5: A Lone Encounter**_

**Detroit Bay: 1hr 30mins later**

He had his vessel move silently through trees, listening for any sound that didn't belong among the singing birds. It had taken some time to calm the ranging torrent of emotions from both the frame and he, himself, had ser-come to after being temporary isolated on the island. This inner pain and despair was familiar to him. He knew this feeling… this wanting feeling. _'I don't like being alone…'_ This truth had also come with another familiar emotion from his hidden past. Confusion. _'Why did everyone leave…?'_ He was so terribly confused by the actions of his caregivers. _'Did I do something wrong…?' _He couldn't recall ever disobeying any form of request asked of him. There were few mistakes perhaps, however nothing that seemed too serious. Could it have something to do with expectations of the vessel he was in?

He had the body sit down on a large fallen tree so that he could rest and ponder the current situation better. _'The teacher told me to practice… Is this a test like with the Dad-bot...?'_ As he walked along, he didn't notice that his golden glow had began to seep out and around him in his living space. _'I'm suppose to find a spot… a spot to camp while we are here…'_ All at once he was hit from somewhere deep in his core. His breathing deepened, hitched and his energy flared and filled the dark void he was in. Within the phenomena his could see images appearing and disappearing in rapid sequence. _'This feeling again…'_ He saw himself in a cave. No, not a cave… There was no entrance. He was constantly losing his balance and was tossed more that once against was completely surrounded on all sides by stone.

Encased within some bubble in the very center of the rock. The entire structure was shaken terribly and there were bizarre purple glowing markings all over the stonewalls. _'What are these flashes…?'_ The visions changed from being trapped within a world of stone into him suddenly fallen through endlessly through the sky. Flames and wind were whipping all around him. Someone was holding him and there was multiple yelling. _'I have been here before…'_ The fire disappeared along with the more wild swirls of wind. The yelling had reduced to a single voice talking to him as they continued to fall. _'Yes, I came here to find something…' _All at once he was falling alone… no… not falling… Flying. He had caught himself and flew down to this island! _'Shelter… I'm suppose to find a shelter…!'_

******

_**30mins later**_

Bumble Bee blinked at his surrounding, he had literally woken up in his mind, and had found himself within the woods and away from the beach. He could not recall ever leaving the sandy terrain and wondered briefly how he had gotten there. Soon, he remembered what his homework had been while he was staying on the island and figured that he had simply wanted to complete for his teacher's approval. Maybe if he found a nice place to stay the slim black and gold bot would allow him some more playtime with Sari… Instantly, the small Autobot became depressed at the memory of being separated from him best friend.

"It's going to be okay." He kept telling himself that as he continued to walk and rubbed at his arms in an attempt to calm and comfort himself. "Sari said she'd come back. Sari doesn't lie." The insecure robot knew he could believe that at the very least. "She will come back!" When he heard the odd hitching sound he tended to make when he was overly upset, he knew he was close to leaking oil again. He had learned that this wasn't normal for any kind of robot. He lost count of the number of times the medic-bot had tried to fix his eyes whenever they had leaked before. However, seeing now that he was alone on a semi-familiar area he would have to settle for what his tiny human friend had taught him to keep it under control. He pause and began to deeply circulate air to calm down. "She has to come back… She said so…"

An odd sound swooshing through the air high above him startled him into turning around. Nothing was directly behind him, however he didn't turn his back on the direction either. "H-he-hello?" The rustling of leaves drew his attention upward towards the high expanding limbs of the canopy. "Oh wow!" Perched on a thick branch of a large tree was a most strange multicolored creature sitting quietly in the shade. Happy that he wasn't alone anymore the little grinned like a five-year-old and waved at the large creature. "Hi! Where'd you come from?" The huge animal stared down at him quietly and tilted its head at his question. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like you before." It followed his movements as Bumble Bee made his way closer to the tree. To the young minibot the thing sat very much like the tiny animals that were always singing in the trees. "You look like one of those… bird things." The little bot tilted his head as he studied the being in front of him. He noticed that at this close distance that there was something odd about it. "Are you a bird?"

The large creature tilted its head as it studied the yellow robot. "Me. Swoop."

Naturally, the small Autobot's first reaction was to blink. "You… you can talk?" Then realizing that his new companion could actually carry a conversation, the yellow amnesiac had practically bounced with enthusiasm. "Cool, I didn't know birds could talk. Wait till I tell Sari she'll…" The perched being suddenly shifted and the sunlight shone brightly against its metallic skin. Fear suddenly gripped at smaller robot's core and shone clearly in his large optics as his processor registered the being in front of him as a stranger. "Y-you're a robot!" In a well learned state of panic Bumble Bee turned and ran for his life. The giant metallic bird creature instantly gave chase from the air.

Remembering what Mr. Prowl had said about how that being out in the open wasn't a good idea when being chased, the minibot ducked into the heavier foliage to try and hide among the trees. However, the huge metallic bird was still able to follow him, screeching and diving at him so as to heard him back into more open terrain. "Oh no!" The large shadow overhead warned Bumble Bee that his pursuer was right above him, and how the shadow was gradually growing he knew the flying stranger was closing in. The little Autobot made the mistake of looking behind him to see how close his pursuer was and soon tripped and fell hard from the momentum. The large mechanical pterodactyl took advantage of the situation and swooped in to hover just above the freighted yellow bot. "G-go away!" To afraid to moved with the flying bot so close, the Autobot curled into himself and tried to keep his head covered as dust had kicked up into the air with the powerful flapping of wings. "Leave me alone!"

The bird-like robot all at once shifted and transformed into what had to be the tallest robot Bumble Bee had ever seen. He landed with his powerful talon feet on either side of the much smaller Autobot's waist, instantly discouraging him from moving. "What Puny Car Robot doing on Dino-bot Island?"

Large frighten eyes stared back into the suspicious glare. "M-my friends and I wanted to camp here…" The large slim robot reached out a clawed servo towards the trembling intruder. The movement brought back flashes of how Blitzwing had grabbed him the first time they had met, which unfortunately also brought back the paralyzing fear. "Don't hurt me!"

This caused the taller robot to pause and study the Autobot as he trembled is his protective position. Although he enjoyed startling those of the ground as he flew, for some reason it didn't feel so amusing with this tiny robot. Especially seeing that those large optics began to leak as the smaller bot coward in his shadow. "Swoop not hurt Puny Car Robot."

Like before with Bulkhead, the yellow bot paused in his shaking and slowly uncurled to look up at the larger bot. Confusion shone clearly in his optics. "Y-you're not?" It was then Bumble Bee noticed the red insignia on the stranger-bot's chest. "Hey, I know that mark." Gathering enough courage to scoot back and sit up a little, the little Autobot placed a servo on his own chest. "It's just like mine. Dad-bot said that only Autobots wear those." He looked back up at the really tall machine whom simply stayed silent and stared right back. "Are… Are you an Autobot?"

"Autobot?" The tall, slim, streamlined robot tilted his head to one side in confusion that the odd question. He had crossed paths with this small robot before. He should already know what his was. "Swoop, Dino-bot."

"What's a Dino-bot?" the yellow bot tilted his head to the side in innocent curiosity as he waited for an answer from this odd new companion. It was a perfect mimic to how the pterodactyl was looking like at that moment.

"What Dino-bot?" Giving his bird-like design, the larger robot tilted his head to the other side. He was even more confused than before that this bot didn't seem to know what was right in front of him. "Swoop, Dino-bot."

"Oh…" At this point all Bumble Bee could do was sit quietly like a little kid and blink at his company. He seemed to be just as lost as he was about things. Maybe he was just beginning to learn how to be an Autobot too? That would make more sense, unless he was broken too. "But you're wearing the mark; so does that mean you're a friend?"

"Friend?"

"You don't know what a friend is?" That surprised the small bot more than anything. Just about everyone he came into contact knew what a friend was or at least had one. Even the bad robots had someone to do things with. Why doesn't this one know? _'Does he live all alone here?' _Could that be why he doesn't know what a friend was? _'That's so sad…'_ Everyone should have a friend. "A friend is someone close to you. Um, they make you happy when you're sad and they help you when you're in trouble." During the one sided conversation Swoop had sat down and mimicked the little robot sitting position. All the while starring quietly with interest. "You can even have more than one. My friend Sari taught me that and she knows everything."

"Friend, good?"

"Yeah, a friend is very good." The Autobot grinned brightly as he nodded. It was at that instant that he had a wonderful idea on how to better teach his new companion about friendship. "You… you wanna be friends, Swoop?"

The Dinobot studied the small Autobot for a time. He couldn't sense anything suspicious from the little bot. In all honesty he seemed anxious for his answer. "Little Car Robot. Friend." At the growing smile shot at him the pterodactyl nodded. "Swoop friend."

Excited at his very first success at making a new friend on his own, the yellow bot instantly crawled over and all but tackled the larger bot. "It's good to make new friends." The Dinobot didn't move at first for he had never been hugged before and so wasn't sure how to respond. The position was neither forceful nor threatening in any manner he was familiar with. Deciding that it was a 'friend thing' the bigger bot simply rapped a clawed servo around Bumble Bee's shoulder; his wing automatically draped around the yellow bot's form. "I can't wait to show you to the others. I just know they'll like you too."

"Others?"

"My little best friend, Sari, and my teacher, Mr. Prowl." The little Cybertronian explained as he sat back on his knees, but not far enough for Swoop not to let his servo rest around his shoulder. "They're going to come back soon." The docile and naive robot looked around at the surrounding trees as he spoke. Trying to remember which way lead back to the docks. "I'm supposed to find a nice spot for us to stay for a little while."

"Swoop knows nice spots." The pterodactyl chimed in. That would certainly explained why the tiny robot was wandering around his island.

"You do?"

"Yes. Swoop show friend." The Dinobot maneuvered around the Autobot until he was behind his back and placed a second clawed servo on the other yellow shoulder. "Swoop show friend whole island!" Without any other warning, Swoop transformed into his alt mode with Bumble Bee in his talons and took off into the air. With a few powerful flaps of his wings the metal pterodactyl soon had him and his companion high enough to seen the entire outline of the small island below them. "See? Why Little Friend afraid?"

It had happened too fast. Having the ground suddenly disappear from under him was too familiar, and not in a good way. Unknown to anyone, when Blitzwing had kidnapped him the first time, he had dangled him like this when they were in the air. Threatened to drop him if he didn't stop screaming for help. "I-its… too high…!" Oddly enough, Swoop understood. Being the only one, he knew of, that could fly it wasn't that hard to see why the little bot was uncomfortable. Then getting an idea, the flying machine bend so that he'd pull the yellow bot upward. Then, getting his beak under Bumble Bee's legs and pushed him up until he was able to rap his small servos around the Dinobot's neck. "Whoa! T-thank you Swoop…" The large pterodactyl simply cawed back. Proud to have fixed that silly little problem and get his small friend to better see his home from his angle. The new position felt much better to the yellow Autobot, and allowed him to be comfortable enough to risk looking down from his new height. "Wow… It's so pretty."

Finding a good current of wind to ride, the pterodactyl glided around the entire perimeter of the island on the drafts. Every so often when he spotted one of his quiet spots, Swoop would descend and give Bumble Bee a better look. "Find two spots there on big hill." The Dinobot did a gentle dive bomb to show off two very sturdy looking ledges on the inner and outer sides of the ancient volcano. Both were obviously his favorites since each had a huge nest constructed on them. "Spot there in trees." Moving down towards the wooded area of his home, Swoop positioned them too see a small clearing in the thick trees, where a decent sized pond was located. "Other spot there, close to water." Shifting his angle a little the flying robot power glided close to the waves to show off a cave overlooking the open water.

Throughout the whole tour the Bumble Bee gave nothing but compliments and sounds of admiration at his guide's dwelling choices. After circling the small land mass about three times, the young Autobot finally asked to see the small clearing with the pond. "Oh, wow, its perfect!" As they came in for a landing, a strange and eerily similar sensation came over the smaller robot. "Hey… I… I know this place…" Flashes came, but not like the flashes from before. Those were fast, dark, frightening and so very confusing. This had come gently and slow, allowing him to see and comprehend what was happening. "I've been here before…" He was walking through this very area at night… His field of vision was very low to the ground, for he could see up at the tree branches and leaves to the starry sky above. There was a light shining around him and spread onto the surrounding vegetation as he walked… The plants shook and swayed without wind and began to bloom in full force as they absorbed the golden light. In his broken memory's eye, it all seemed so real.

The Dinobot landed facing the water and allowed his friend to slide off. "Swoop has lots nice spots away from other Dinobots." The mechanical pterodactyl turned after admiring the pond and found the yellow bot shining. Plants were leaning over towards the light, absorbing, growing, and blooming as if it was spring. Then all at once the small Autobot turned and faced his companion, eyes also glowing gold and smiling and the soft glowing had soon dimmed gradually.

Swoop, too awe struck to say anything, only watched as the glow around his small friend's frame stop, however his optics were still shining gold. Before the slime Dinobot could ask what had just happened the little bot spoke. In a duo voice pattern. "There are other Dinobots?"

The metal dinosaur wasn't sure what to make about the odd new sound patterns emanating from the Autobot's vocal processor. "Yes… Um… Me, Swoop Dinobot. Snarl Dinobot. Grimlock Dinobot too."

The smile widen with the knowledge of his new friend not actually living alone on the island. "Are they all a big as you?"

"All Dinobots big." Though odd the duo sounding voice didn't sound at all threatening. If fact it was a mixture of genuine curiosity and innocence. "Grimlock leader. Grimlock loud. Like to fight. Other Dinobot Snarl. Snarl like fight too. Swoop fight too. Good fun."

"Dude! Could I meet them, please?" Just as the words left his oral drive the glowing yellow eyes suddenly flashed and were their natural electric blue once more. Optics that blinked a few times in confusion as the bot realized he was on the ground rather than on Swoop's back.

Remembering one of their first encounters back in the city, the metal pterodactyl decided that the glowing had come from his 'shiny shocks' that had wanted to come out, only he hadn't let it. "New friend want show Swoop to other friends." The little yellow bot blinked at his tall friend and tilted his head a little. "Swoop show little friend to other Dinobots."

"Okay." The Autobot smiled happily at the invitation. _'He does have friends, and he wants me to meet them!'_ The young bot gave a chuckle as he carefully climbed onto the back of the metal dinosaur. Swoop soon transformed and took off back into the sky. "Maybe we all could be friends too. I'd like that."


	6. Ch 6: Promises

*****

_**Ch. 6 Promises**_

**Detroit Bay: 1hr 30mins later**

It hadn't been easy convincing her father to allow her a minor extensive camping trip. Truth be told, Isaac Sumdac had been **very** reluctant towards the idea, all the while giving Prowl apologetics looks, as if he had insulted the slim Cybertronian. One can only imagine how much suspicion grew within the child at this point, as she stuffed what she could into a bag as fast as she could while arguing. Naturally, Prowl conceded to the professor's wishes and had tried to leave before the child could ware her father down. However, his attempts were thwarted when the eight-year-old used her key to activated the large mechanical pincers to clamp onto his waist and held him off the floor. She even went as far as to threaten to bound from head to peds if he so much as thought about escaping, and with her hand still on the key, it was a safe bet she would. It took a full hour on Sari's part, but her father had finally caved. There was a condition, that she had to agree to carry a high voltage regulating electrical prod along the trip, which further clued into her suspicions. However, they were finally going back to the island and to the friend she was forced to leave behind.

Now Sari stood quietly at the very point of the deck, gripping hard at safety bars of the ship, as the island drew nearer. Her foot tapping impatiently and her young face set in a most serious frown, but her eyes weren't really focused on their destination. Prowl could have easily cut through the thick tension of her mood had it possessed a physical form. Even from his position at the helm he could sense the child was grappling some inner turmoil and so after making sure they were moving at a steady pace, he left the wheel and went to talk to his tiny human friend.

'_It's him…'_ She could still hear the ranting. _'It has to be him…'_ Could still see and hear the crushing of metal after every blow. _'There's just no other explanation…'_ Worst yet, she could picture in detail the mangled results of the insanity of it all. "He's back isn't he?" She knew the slim black and gold Autobot was behind her. She refused to say the name of the bot out loud. Not that she had to mention the name. The ninja bot knew very well of whom she spoke of. "That's way you took Bumble Bee to Dinobot Island."

Momentarily, Prowl lowered his head in shame for needing to lie to her earlier. "Yes." He glanced at her only to find that she continued to face towards the island. "We didn't want to worry you and it wouldn't have done any good to tell Bumble Bee." He could only wonder what terrors the child was remembering at this time. What she saw during Bumble Bee's assault and the aftermath that followed. "He wouldn't have remembered Wasp. This way he'd be less likely to be found and attacked." Prowl could only thank the Well of All Sparks that he had the foresight to arrange an agreement with the occupants of the island ahead of time for such an occasion. However, it was only for a very short period of time. He would have to arrange an agreement of some kind to stay longer. Yet at the same time he also wished it wasn't necessary. "The Dino-bots will provide immediate aid if by the slimmest chance Wasp did find him on the island. As you know they don't take too kindly to strangers."

She knew that fact very well and was grateful for it now more than ever. Yet how she wished she could have been able to do something to help then. "Just make sure you guys give him one for me," They may have saved her best friend's life, but at that exact same time, they had lost him, "and for Bumble Bee."

Within no time the boat was brought to a stop at the old forgotten dock of the island. Sari had quickly gathered her camping backpack along with a small tent, and sleeping bag while Prowl secured the ocean vessel. Once on the dock, Sari began to hurry towards the beach, wanting to find her best friend right away. Then a series of lights had her paused and looked out over the water and towards the city where she could barely make out the large Ferris Wheel on the far dock. The fairgrounds had been repaired now, and in a few more days the city's annual festivities will commence at full force. The child clenched tightly at the straps on her shoulder as her eyes brimmed with angry tears. It was another thing to blame that insane robot about.

The ground shook beneath her and she quickly blinked back the hot salty droplets as she heard the familiar sound of Bumble Bee's running steps approaching. "You're back!" As was expected he went straight for Sari to pick her up and hugged her. Afterwards, he turned to face his teacher with both the girl and her gear in his arms. "I found a really pretty spot, Mr. Prowl."

"Good." However, 'pretty' did not mean the same thing as 'secure'. "Let's have a look." Chances are Prowl may have to moved them closer to the center of the island where their 'security' would most likely be at this time. Or perhaps even into the unoccupied cave he, himself, had discovered during his last visit. However, it wouldn't do well to discourage his younger charge just yet. He would see this 'pretty spot' and judge for himself then.

******

_**The Clearing**_

Flowers of all colors and sizes were spread out just about everywhere. Their vibrate hues mixed and stood out with the rich healthy green of grass, bushes, and even some trees. The sun poured in through gaps in the canopy almost like small spotlights, attracting attention to the pond, a large boulder overlooking the water, and made the flowering plants almost glisten. To those whom came across this small piece of spring in late summer was like finding a paradise.

"Oh, wow, it's beautiful!" Sari couldn't help but awe at the spectacle in front of her. Not even the small flower patches in the park looked so magical as the one in this little clearing.

"Perfect." It was in every sense of the word as far as the ninja bot was concern. Thick, strong trees surrounded just about every side, providing good cover from the air. At the same time, the thick trunks created a terrain slim bots like them could maneuver around with far more ease than anything larger than themselves could. Sari could use the small lake for more food and her own enjoyment. Plus, it would also double as a decent reflective surface for surveying the skies from the trees. "It's a very good choice, Bumble Bee. Very impressive."

As Prowl watched his new student glance away shyly from the praise, he noticed an odd coloring appearing on his faceplate. It was a light red tint forming just below his large optics as he gave an embarrassed smile. "My friend helped me pick it out."

Prowl caught onto the statement almost immediately. "Friend?"

Remembering his companion from earlier, the minibot perked up. "I made a new friend!" Now was a great time to share all he had experienced on the island alone. He just knew his teacher would be impressed with him now. "He's name is Swoop and he lives right here on the island." At the shocked expression on the ninja-bot face, the little bot remembered his Dad-bot's warning about strangers. "We can trust him, really. He's got the same funny mark we have, Mr. Prowl." He pointed the fraction symbol printed on his chest to indicate what he had meant.

Sari had been staring at her yellow friend through the explanation with wide eyes. Prowl had explained to her earlier about the island's residence normal daily routine. The Dinobots tended to gather inside the old creator in the middle of the island in the evening. That's why Prowl wasn't worried about leaving Bumble Bee alone earlier. They weren't supposed to out at this time! "You met one of the Dino-bots?"

Those large blue optics blinked at the tiny human girl. "You knew about them? Gee, you really do know everything." Happy that he knew his small best friends so well he hugged her happily again. Then he heard a familiar swooshing sound from above and looked up beyond Prowl's height. "There he is right now!" The black and gold Autobot turned immediately as his eager student pointed at the large metal pterodactyl flying literally overhead. Oblivious to how his friends tensed up at the sight of the Dinobot, or how Prowl moved himself in front of him and Sari, Bumble Bee waved happily to his flying friend. "Hi Swoop!!" Without much warning the Dino-bot dived down towards them. Just as Prowl readied himself for an attack, Swoop pulled up at the last second and landed right in front of the group and transformed into his robot mode. Excited that all of his friends were together in one spot, the yellow bot ran forward and greeting the incredibly taller bot with a small hug. To which, surprisingly enough, the Dinobot returned by rapping a single winged arm around Bumble Bee's shoulders. "Swoop said this was one of the best spots on the island. He said we could stay here if we wanted."

The bird-like robot nodded in confirmation while still keeping a gentle clawed servo on the smaller bot's shoulder. "Spot good. Lot of trees." Although not as good as his quiet ledge on the side of the crater, but since the car robots and the little girl couldn't fly it would have to do. He knew his little friend agreed with him completely, considering the way he had glowed much like a star when he first step foot in the clearing. Though the Dinobot couldn't recalled the yellow robot ever doing that before it was nice to look at. The surrounding vegetation had like it too apparently since he saw them thrive into what they were looking at now.

"Indeed." Prowl had an intrigued smirk on his faceplate at this new turn of events. He was sure he couldn't have planned this any better if he had tried. "Bumble Bee, why don't you help Sari set up camp? I need to have a word with Swoop."

"Yes sir!" With an ever-eager salute, the amnesiac scout carried his confused human friend to show her a spot near the water he had found.

Prowl waited until the two were out of hearing range before turning his attention to the Dinobot. "Forgive me for not alerting the Dino-bots of our arrival sooner, Swoop, but we are in dire need of your help." If what had happen truly happened; then he was sure to have at least secured the support of the only flying Dinobot on their side if ever the time should come. "You may have notice that 'Puny Yellow Car Robot' has been acting rather strangely."

Given his more simple way of processing information, the Dino-bot was able to establish at least one change during his time with Bumble Bee. "Puny Car Robot not loud no more."

"Yes. That's because he doesn't know how to be loud anymore." The black and gold motorcycle paused to choose his next words carefully, so as to give the taller robot another reason to want to help them if and when the time should come. "He was attacked by a green Decepticon called Wasp. Now he has returned and invaded _your_ skies so he could hunt 'Yellow Car Robot' and attack him again."

As was expected the slimmest of the Dinobot became instantly enraged. "Grrr, skies belong to Swoop!" His signature pterodactyl cry screeched along with his words as he ranted. "Yellow Car Robot belongs to Swoop!" He even went as far as pulling out his mace and had swung in a circle to his side. "Him Swoop friend!"

The possessiveness of the statement was, although strange, exactly what the ninja-bot was hoping for. "Allow me to show you what he looks like." Picking up a stick, Prowl became drawing in the soil. "He can take the form of a helicopter." Once the helicopter was finished he proceeded to outline the Decepticon symbol. "If you see one wearing this insignia you will know it's an enemy."

The metal pterodactyl stopped swinging his mace, kneeled, and glared at the drawing. He had seen flying machines like it before but never had those things dared to approach his island home. If this particular one was foolish enough to attempt it, he would most certainly deal with directly. "Hmmm, Copter Robot… **bad**."

"Yes, very bad." Prowl urged the Dinobot along as he watched him grip at his weapon at the tighter. "He can't know where Yellow Car Robot is." The slim ninja robot placed a servo over his more rugged friend in order to get him to look at him in the optics. "If he does, he will hurt _your_ new friend again." Sights locked, Prowl could easily see the anger in the other bot and was satisfied to see determination in those dark blue lenses. "Will you help us, Swoop?"

Swoop turned to see Bumble Bee fiddling with collapsed material of the pop-up tent. His curious movements reminded the Dinobot so much of how he was when he first had come online. Bumble Bee had done whatever he was told and followed him blindly without question as he was taken around the island. He remembered clearly how the little bot had clung to him in fear of the other Dinobots. Especially, Grimlock, whom at that one point frightened him to the point of hiding under the pterodactyl wings like a chick. "Little Car Robot… Friend." He then turned to Prowl and recalled how he had freed them from the tar pit and brought them to this very island. "Bike Robot… Friend." As far and the Dinobots were concerned the motorcycle was trust worthy and could visit whenever he liked. However, as far as Swoop was concerned, Bumble Bee was **his** to protect while he stayed on the island. "Swoop help protect friends."

"Thank you, Swoop. I am truly grateful." Given his manner, the ninja bowed in respect to the Dinobot. Wanting to return to his skies and hunt for this Copter-bot, the slim Dinobot turned to leave. "Please, one more thing. Little Car Robot has been afraid for a long time after being hurt. We don't want him to be afraid again." Prowl took a glance at his charges before locking optics with the taller robot. "He must not know about Copter Robot."

"Copter Robot bad!" The Dinobot screeched as his sharp talons curled into a tight fist. "Little Car Robot not know… **ever**!" With that final roar the pterodactyl transformed into his alt mode and took off into his beloved sky, calling loudly as if challenging anything bold enough to meet him in the air.

*****

_**Later that Night**_

During the time it took for the sun's rays to slowly and completely set, the trio cleared the small area of flammable forest debris and soon had Sari's tent set and secured. The two youngsters watched intensely as Prowl started the campfire by rubbing one log against another rapidly. Bumble Bee even attempted to imitate the act, which somewhat surprised the ninja-bot, especially when the little robot kept asking him if he was doing it right. In fact as the Prowl observed his young student he noticed that he tended to do just about everything he was told to do, exactly how he was told to do it. So much so that when the ninja-bot announced that they were finished, only then did the yellow Autobot relaxed enough to play with Sari for the remainder of the day light. Prowl had also noticed that even though the yellow bot tended to be more adventurous with Sari around, he was still very cautious and would never stray far from the ninja-bot's sight and discreetly wouldn't allow Sari to do the same.

Soon enough night came and they all settle down into more comfortable positions. "I'm so glad you came back." Bumble Bee switched to lying on his chassis so that he could look at his tiny best friend. She was munching on another one of those puffy white things she had brought with her after cooking it with the fire. "I was scared your Dad wouldn't let you."

The eight year old swallowed her melted marshmallow before answer the now child like robot. "Hey I said I would." She discreetly glanced at her backpack and the prod handle that was sticking out of the main pocket. "When I make a promise I keep it."

"What's that?" The yellow minibot's head tilted into his curious look at the mentioning of the new word. "What's a promise, Sari?" His innocence had always shown instantly in full bloom whenever he made that face. It was down right irresistible.

"It means giving your word." Sari glanced up at that sky as she spoke. "It means trusting someone else to do something for you." The conversation had her thinking about the night before the '_incident_' and the promises they had made at that time. "And, no matter what you should always try and keep a promise." Her focus went back to the fire and utilizing a long think stick, she poked at the fuel source a little in some frustration. "If you don't it means you can't be trusted and will wind up hurting the one you made the promise to."

"Oh." The yellow Cybertronian fell silent for a few moments. "Sari?" The child turned to find the young robot fidgeting with his fingers. A nervous habit he had formed whenever he wasn't' sure whither to say something or not. "Did I ever break a promise?"

"What?" The child looked up at her friend with a mixture of confusion and shock. Where in the world did he get that idea? "No. No, what made you think..."

"You've been acting really sad… and you keep looking at me a lot." He glanced at her nervously for a shot moment then turned his attention back to his fingers. "Did… did I break a promise to you, Sari?" She looked back at the fire and mentally kicked herself. Of course he would have noticed. His newfound curiosity made him more observant than he had ever been before. "Sari?" Her resultant to answer one of his questions was never a good sign. He learned that from experience with the other robots whenever he asked how he got broken in the first place.

"Not exactly." Not wanting him to see the hurt/angry face she was surly making at the moment, the eight year old kept her eyes on the fire. "You don't remember, so I don't blame you for it." She did her best to keep her voice calm and casual as she all but stab at the burning sticks in front on her as she felt her eyes burning. "See, there's going to be a special fair coming up soon." She blinked rapidly to get rid of the tears that wanted to fall as she glared at the mental image of Wasp in the fire. "We were supposed to go together." She absolutely refused to allow the green Cybertronian the slimmest satisfaction of making the yellow robot feel guilty by seeing her cry. "We all were."

Bumble Bee looked down at his best friend. She really wasn't looking happy at all. He never saw her this unhappy before. It wasn't right. It just didn't _feel_ right to see her like that. "Well, if it hasn't happened yet… We could still go." If keeping a 'promise' was that important to her, than he just had to keep it. "I'm all fixed up now." He paused a moment after that claim and confidence began to waver a little. That wasn't entirely true since he still couldn't remember things from before he got hurt. "Mostly." However, he couldn't let that stop him from doing what was right. Surely he was well enough for this. "I could still go… if you want."

It was sweet. It really was, seeing how quickly he was willing to go through with it, even though he probably didn't fully understand. Yet, at the same time it was down right heartbreaking, since the current danger decided to interfere yet again. "Ah, Bumble Bee, you don't have…"

"I want to." He picked her up so their eye levels would be even. Optimus had always crouched down to his eye level whenever he had to say something important or comforting to him. "I'll work really hard and learn my lessons fast so I can make sure I go." As it was his adopted way with her, he drew her a little closer so she could lean against his chest plate. "I'll keep my promise Sari, really. I promise."

Prowl, sitting in his lotus position, had been watching this touching moment. His skills at staying completely and perfectly still allowed him to go unnoticed by the two. The unfamiliar new manner of his fellow Autobot was as strange to him as the condition that allowed it to form. The lost of memory seems to have made him more open minded and calm. More willing to try out new things he otherwise wouldn't do and very eager to please those he associated with. It was if the yellow robot was reborn and free to experience all that life had to offer without preexisting conflicts. Yet at the same time it had caused him to be very timid around others he no longer knows and made him highly submissive. He was easily discouraged and had been liable to agree to just about anything; believing that to do so would avoid physical harm.

It would have made a most fascinating study if it weren't for one thing. "Sari? Sari what's wrong?" Prowl watched as a very concerned Bumble Bee carefully held Sari away from him after hearing soft yet strange sobbing sounds coming from her. "Sari?"

She had broke. The young girl just couldn't hold it in any longer. Especially not after how sincere the yellow robot had been. "I'm fine… really, I'm… fine…" She wiped at her eyes in a vain attempt to stop the tear flow. How could she possibly tell him that to keep such a promise now would surely put him in danger? "I'm just tired… that all…" As her eyes leaked their tears, Captain Fanzon's words form the night of the rescue echoed in Prowl's memory banks._** 'Don't know about you guys. But something like this leaves a real impression on us humans.'**_

"Oh, okay." Without needing any more of an explanation, Bumble Bee picked up Sari's sleeping bag and gently slid her in it. "Here you go." With great care the yellow robot put his tiny best friend down on the ground, a safe distance from the fire. He then shifted so that he was lying on his side, facing her with one arm under his head and the other one carefully domed around her as if she was a small doll. "Goodnight Sari."

"G'night… Bumble Bee…"

Although she couldn't be seen now, Prowl knew she was still crying. No doubt doing her best to keep it quiet so as not to worry her larger friend. If it were anything like it had been when her father went missing, she would most likely continue to do so quietly until she fell asleep. The stealthy ninja robot looked away from his charges and up towards the full moon in the night sky. Vowing, then and there, that he would do everything in his power to see to it that the smallest of his teammates would be able to keep his promise.


	7. Ch 7: Endurance

******

**Chapter 7: **_**Endurance**_

_**Dino-bot Island: Day 2**_

The early morning rays of sun brought a few surprises. After awaking up at his usual time, two to three hours before sunrise, Prowl had taken a walk to scout for good exercising route to practice camouflaging techniques. The first surprise was to be greeted by a distant cry from Swoop whom apparently either patrolled the island at that time or simply enjoyed an early morning flight. The second surprise came from him returning to the campsite and find Sari alone still asleep. Not wanting to disturb her peaceful slumber the ninjabot had soundlessly surveyed the area around the pond as he searched for his charge. He would have hailed the minibot's communication frequency, when he was distracted by yet another small surprise.

Just to his right was a large, beautiful old tree, decorated with think vines of some sort. On the vines were large buds, some clustered together and others spread, in random places all over the organic web. In between two of the random clusters, just below the height of his sight, one on the buds were moving. A twitching really, just enough to cause someone to double takes as if not sure if they had seen anything at all. However, as Prowl continued to observed the bud, it had indeed twitched again. It twitched and parted down its centered and spilled out its soft pedals in a glorious display of color. Never seeing such a wondrous act of nature perform in front of him before, the Autobot was instantly awed and slowly approached the new blossom to see its natural design up close. The light of the sun shone brightly through the leaves as Prowl came closer and like a domino effect the other buds began to open as well, almost making a trail leading up the trunk. The ninjabot couldn't help but follow the path upward to gaze up at the golden light pouring above…

'_Wait…'_ The black and gold robot checked his internal clock. Shocked at what his sensors told him, he cast his glance over at the skies towards the east. What he saw was the light orange hue of the sun just _beginning_ to rise. Looking back up the tree the golden light still remained glowing contentedly in the leaves. Curious, the slim bot jumped up to the lowest branch, then onto the higher ones above it as the blossoms continued their colorful domino effect, as if racing the metal being to the light. What he found was not at all what he expected.

'_Impossible...'_ The slime Cybertronian thought as he awed at the being in front of him. He was sitting quietly on all fours right on the nook of a branch where its base met the trunk of the tree. Perfectly balanced with his weight distribute evenly on his limbs and without a care in the world, he didn't seem to noticed at all that he now had company with him in the canopy level of the tree. The little light that could be seen in the early morning sky seemed to be reflecting at a much more intensified level than it should against his body. This golden glow seemed to be seeping right out of his body and appeared to be softly drifting down on the leaves and vines. The surrounding plants absorbed the strange light, vibrated, and soon buds, hidden and visible, burst open in full bloom. Prowl was simply speechless.

"Heh, hello there." The dual voice pattern was gentle and friendly, and apparently not directed at the ninja bot. The smaller yellow figured moved forwards until he lay on his front side with his arms crossed under his helm and facing a heavily bloomed branch. "Did you come out to see the sun go up too?" As Prowl moved to get closer, a sudden rustling came from the foliage and two more blossoms bloom in front of the yellow being. This caused their young admirer to smile happily. "I like your colors too. They're really pretty." All at once his helm turned around and golden glowing optics locked onto the blue visor of the black and gold Autobot. "Don't you think so too?"

Prowl simply froze and he gazed at the strange golden eyed spectacle in front of him. "…Bumble Bee?" The bot in front of him continued to look at him quietly and didn't react to the name. "Bumble Bee, how are you doing this?"

The smaller bot tilted his head gave him a confused look. "…Doing what?" All at once the glowing stopped, and his large optics turned blue again. "Hmm?" Looking around and blinking at his unfamiliar surroundings the small bot wondered were he was. "Hey… Where...?" Then realizing he was on his stomach, he looked down. "**AAAAAaaaaaah!**"

Prowl reacted quickly and grabbed a hold of Bumble Bee's shoulder armor to keep him steady. "Don't move!" The older bot cried to the younger Autobot that had an iron grip on the branch beneath him, trembling violently, sobbing and whimpering that 'it's too high'. "Just stay calm Bumble Bee. I won't let you fall."

"Why are we up here?!" The smaller bot shivered as he looked down to the ground below him, looking up only when he felt his teacher slip behind him and gentle pulled him back up so that against him on the thickest part of the branch. "W-w-why…!" As Prowl rapped his servos around the frighten bot the branch next to them rustled its leaves again. Instantly attracted to the noise Bumble Bee turned and noticed what looked like a tiny little bed of some kind almost hidden in the leaves. "…oh… look…" Sitting within the cluster of leaves and seemingly staring right at the huge robots where three of the tiniest, fluffiest creatures the young bot had ever seen. Occasionally one or more of the fuzz balls, which the small bot now recognized as tiny birds, chirped curiously. "They're so tiny…"

Thankful that the yellow bot had been easily distracted from his near hysterical fear, the taller Autobot pulled his smaller charge up until he was resting against his chassis. The position gave them a much better angle to observe their discovery. "They're called 'chicks'." The ninjabot explained as he took a moment to study the baby birds in their well-constructed nest. "Their creators tend to build their home high in the tree to insure the safety of their offspring."

The smaller bot sat quietly watching the little birds chirp amongst themselves, not at all worried about being alone in the presence of two huge metal creatures sitting so close to their home. "You mean… It can be safe to be up real high?"

"Sometimes." The two have been so still and quiet that Mama bird had actually flutter pass them and went to her babies as they broke out into a frenzy of chirps and wails for attention. Both Cybertronians shared a small chuckle at the antics of the organics. "Come now, let's get down."

Being careful to keep a hold on the yellow bot and going slow so that he could keep up, Prowl guided both of them down to solid ground. "Thank you for showing me the chicks, Mr. Prowl." The innocent Autobot remarked before his appointed guardian could utter a word about what he was doing up in the tree to begin with. "I think I understand now."

Taken back, Prowl tilted his head in some confusion. "Understand?" The small robot was acting as if being up in the tree was the ninja bot's idea.

"That sometimes you can find nice things in places you don't like to be." The wide optics looking up at the silent ninja were full of admiration and trust. "The bad bots made me scared of being up too high, and you fixed me." With that small claim, Bumble Bee got in close and, to Prowl's final surprise for the morning, hugged his teacher happily around his midsection. "Thank you very much Mr. Prowl."

'_He doesn't remember…?'_ The black and gold motorcycle stood there in some shock. _'He cannot recall being up in the tree on his own?'_ Thinking back to what had happed in the canopy and how Bumble Bee had been acting before and after the mysterious glowing had dissipated, confirmed this clearly enough. _'What was that strange light?'_ Unconsciously, Prowl and rapped his servos around the small figure as he looked back up at the tree. _'This will require some looking into.'_ After some time he broke the embrace and began to lead his young charge back to camp. It worried him some that Bumble Bee could once again forget things that had happened a few nano clicks ago. However, at least he had found out about it early so as they could all find a way to fix it soon. _'At least for now it had passed.'_

******

_**The Clearing**_

They had returned to find that Sari had just barely woken up from her deep slumber. The younger Autobot had been eager to see his tiny human friend again and tell her the story of how his teacher showed him the baby birds. He chatted on and on about what he saw on the way back much like a toddler wanting to share an adventure in the sandbox with his favorite aunt. Prowl took this time to meditate and allow the eight-year-old to conduct her morning routine with Bumble Bee right at her heels, stopping his pursuit only when either told to or knowing when to. The ninja bot carefully replayed what he had witnessed earlier and stored it safely in his memory file to present to Prime and Ratchet once they were able to return to the mainland. Soon enough his small students where sitting quietly in front of him.

He stood to his full height and began the lesson. "Obverse." In his slow and graceful way the slim ninjabot executed his daily series of katas for his two small students to see. "Your stance must be firm and rooted to the ground." The black and gold Autobus demonstrated by staying in the same stance almost constantly throughout the process. Shifting his weight only when he needed to kick out or act as if he was putting a great deal of force into a single jag. "This offers balance to your movement and makes you a more serious opponent."

Sari watched as Bumble Bee tried following every move with his optics. She could tell by his small nervous pout that he couldn't quite see how the stance was effecting the movement of Prowl's arms. "Think of it like playing 'Follow the Leader'." The child stood up and soon had her legs spread into the same stance as her large teacher and even placed her arm in the same position. "Just copy whatever Prowl's doing and you'll get it." Catching onto the child's plan, Prowl repeated the katas slowly so as to allow the girl to follow him. "See?"

"Oh. Okay." Using his tiny best friend's advice, the yellow Autobot soon stood, took the stance, and attempted to imitate the actions of the taller bot. "Like this?"

"Widen your stance more." The smaller bot shifted his peds farther apart into a more sturdy posture. "Better." Once the stance was adjusted, Bumble Bee began to imitate the motions of the katas along with Prowl. "Once you've rooted your stance, your servos are free to strike or block." The natural mirror game lasted for a good hour before the ninja bot figured his students had the right motions down. After a few more corrective suggestions and completing the sequence a few more times, it was time to test his speed and strength. "Now, I want you to try and hit my insignia. As fast and as hard as you can manage."

This surprised the smaller robot and caused a worried look to form on his young faceplate. He never thought he would have to try and hurt his teacher. "It's pretend, Bumble Bee." Having noticed the look, Sari had been quick to explain. "Prowl just wants to see how fast you are when you move. Its not really real." The child paused for a moment to think of an example he might be more familiar with. "Think of it like a test."

"A test?" The smaller robot took a second to think about his friend's words. "Like with Dad-bot when we practice dodging?"

The little girl smiled and nodded, proud that she had his new personality pegged down perfectly. "Yeah, exactly like that."

It was only after his teacher nodded in confirmation did the smaller Autobot agreed to do so. Slowly, the little bot went back into the stance and studied his teacher for a minute. There was a brief instant where his optic flashed yellow. _'As fast as I can…Maybe what the Dad-bot taught me will work…'_ Gathering as much determination as he could, Bumble Bee's wheels on heels suddenly spun sending out a screeching sound of rubber and trusting him forward. Neither Sari nor Prowl expected this from the docile robot and were both shocked when he stopped right in front of the ninja-bot to deliver the blow. However, that pause was all the more experienced fighter needed and before the small Autobot could register it, he was facing away from black and gold Autobot, with his body hunched over a little, and his attacking arm twisted behind him.

"Whoa…" Bumble Bee's innocent blue optics glanced behind him towards his teacher, complete astounded. "You're real fast."

"Using your opponent's own force against them will be your best defense and offence." The ninja-bot explained calmly as he filed away the incident for further study later. Apparently Optimus had taught him well in the use of his speed, however refrained from going into the basics of close combat. "It only takes a simple shift in order to execute the technique." Prowl explained further as he released his young charge and carefully show the youngling the exact how to twist his own servo around behind him without adding any more force than what was being used to move the appendage. "Now get into your stance." The slim Autobot ready himself as his student mirrored him. This next test will have to be done several times but it'll be worth it if the yellow bot learns it this day. "I'm going to come at you now. I want you to counter exactly like I did to you. Understand?"

This blunt statement caused the smaller Autobot to shake a little in nervous anticipation. "Y-y-yes… Master Prowl."

At that, the slim ninja bot froze. "What?"

The little bot blink and tilted his head in some confusion. "Umm…, isn't that I'm suppose to call you?" Thinking that he might have made a mistake in using the word, Bumble Bee dropped the stance to gaze down at his human friend. "Ninja teachers are called Masters, right Sari?"

"Not all the time." The eight-year-old answered a matter of fact. "A lot of the time the student would call them 'Sensei'."

Donning his new signature look of confusion, the tilting of his head, the young bot replied. "What's that?"

"They both mean the same thing, 'teacher'." Prowl answered before Sari could explain, still staring at the younger bot in silent wonder. "They are both forms of showing respect to someone whom has mastered their training." Of all the things that have been said between them in the past, the yellow bot verbally stating him as his superior was something the slim Autobot had never expected. Even in this sensitive situation. Why now all of the sudden?

"Oh." At this new discovery, the smaller bot paused to think. "Umm, could I call you 'Sensei' instead?" At Prowl's own confused tilt of his head, Bumble Bee rubbed the back of his own head shyly. "I don't really like saying 'Master'…" Soon the servo that was rubbing his helm moved to rub at his other servo in an uncomfortable manner. "The bad robots made me say it all the time…" The 'bad robots' in question Prowl knew were the Decepticons. It was during his forced captivity with them when the little scout learned the negative meaning of the word 'master'. The fact that the yellow bot had learned the second definition and actually used it in a form of respect towards him was a complete surprise to the ninjabot. Why did he feel that he needed to call him by such a title? "But I want to be respectful. I promised Dad-bot I would."

So that was it. Optimus must have asked his youngest charge to behave like a proper student towards him. Prowl couldn't help the gentle smile that formed on his faceplate as he continued to study the young bot. The now timid Autobot had only just learned about promises last night and had already figured his word to his father figure was one he had to keep. "'Sensei' is fine." As is to prove that he approved of Bumble Bee's request, the slim Autobot place a comforting servo on his shoulder armor so as to get him to look him in the optics. "After what you went through with the Decepticons, I'd be insulted if you started referring to me as your 'master'." Earning a smile that bloomed much like a flower, Prowl couldn't help smile back just as warmly. Soon after a few more moments, the taller teacher backed away and retook his defensive stance once again. "Now then. Lets continue."

"Yes, Sensei Prowl." Bumble Bee mimicked the stance once again while Sari watched carefully from the sidelines.

The rest of the day was spent with them practicing jabs and blocks using only their hands for the time. Throughout the exercise Bumble Bee held a determined look in his optics and never complained nor whined when bested and only stopped to rest when the taller Autobot deemed so. No doubt he was simply trying his best to learn his lessons well so that he could keep his promise to tiny best friend, which caused Prowl to push the lesson slightly longer than was necessary in order to build that old stubborn sprit up again. During the breaks, Sari was given the chance to practice her lessons with the black and gold ninja, though the Autobot doubted the escaped convict would ever come after her. Still a few lessons in ped sensory nerve blows wouldn't hurt. Prowl figured that what information he was able to find of the original attack was that Wasp had tended to fight up close and personal with Bumble Bee more than simply stinging him. Since fighting sting with sting wasn't an option, the ninja-bot would make certain the yellow youngling will be able to hold his own until the team could get to him if ever cornered again. Of course this would not work against a Decepticon, but that was nothing a little fancy ped work wouldn't cure. However, that was for tomorrow. Today, they will work on katas, punches, and blocks until it felt natural to the small bot.

******

_**Day 6 Back in the City**_

The week had progressed slowly and peacefully enough on the small island, with the occasional visit from Swoop and sometimes the other Dinobots outside the clearing. Surprisingly, Bumble Bee had been learning his lessons very well and an excellent pace. This was due to the fact that Prowl also took what his knew of Autobot boot camp training and had mixed it with his lesson plan. Stamina and endurance training in the mornings, which occasionally Swoop would join in, wanting in on the fun. Laps, scaling and camouflage exercises in the afternoon in groups so that Sari could join in without getting left behind. Finally, evening sparring matches which not only brought new lessons, but also reviewed what was learned the day before and combined it with the new lessons.

It was pretty much the equivalent of a fifteen-hour day. That would drag any person down to complete exhaustion at the end, however since robots couldn't tier like organics, it suited the needs perfectly. Only Sari's lesson plan had to be altered in order for her to keep up and act as a constant motivator for the yellow minibot. During the lessons involving blending into his surrounding, Bumble Bee would be sent ahead to hide while Prowl would teach the child a series of katas involving a staff or anything of the like. These were used to strike in between an opponent's armor to get at their more sensitive wirings in order to render them defenseless with the right blow. These exercises the child practice with her deactivated electrical prod whenever the slim ninjabot went out to search for his hidden student believing that if she couldn't hit the spot hard enough, a good shock would be just a effected if not more so. All in all Prowl was justly proud of the progress and determination of his charges. He could only hope that the situation back on the main lands would be dealt with soon. As much progress as Bumble Bee had made, the young Autobot was still nowhere near a match for a one on one full assault.

******

_**East Detroit District: Day 6**_

It took days of endless searching on both the Autobot team and the fine men and women of the Detroit police department's part. Citizens were advised to exercise extreme caution when out on the roads, particularly if they owned a compact car. Reports of sightings and attacks had bombarded the station practically by the hour during those days, yet somehow in all that chaos it was discovered that there was a certain pattern to the attacks. The seemingly random bouts of destruction and the first on any of the many sightings tended to circle around an older part of the city where a large storage facility used to do business years ago near the lake. The area had been abandoned and set for demolition in order to create room for a new docking bay to handle import/export deliveries. What better place for a deranged minibot to hide in?

The second all four machines were in reached of the old docking bay the plan had been set into motion. They would circle around the perimeter of the area and gradually moved in closer towards the center, so as to get a general feel for the area and hopefully spot their culprit if and when he decided to go hunting again. The three Autobot reported in every hour for the last five until at last the fire truck picked up a whirling sound in his section. The chopper appeared from the south side almost instantly and had nearly passed the fire truck if it hadn't immediately fired a blast of form at the flying assault vehicle's windshield. The chopper released a startled yelp and it swirled in the air as it tried to get the foam off. As the fire engine have chase on the ground it was soon joined by an emergency response vehicle and a burly green assault vehicle.

"Come at him from all sides!" The fire truck ordered and caused the ambulance and swat car to separated from their rolling 'V' formation on either side of the emergency vehicle. "We can't allow him to escape again!"

The other two large cars sped up into order to keep just off to either side of the helicopter as they all entered the pier. Optimus had kept a steady stream of water blasts aimed around the flying machine in order to herd it into position for a takedown. Ratchet and Bulkhead sped up ahead to get into their positions. They will have to take the chopper down quick and hard in order to avoid causing damage to the surrounding area. Once the two were far enough ahead, Ratchet hit the brakes and transformed into his robot mode and waited for his quarry to get close. Wasp, distracted from the constant blasts of water and form, flew right over to the grounded medic bot and right into the range of his magnetic field.

"Got ya, you little pain in the pistons!" Ratchet shouted as his powerful blast of magnetism hit their target dead center and surrounded its pray. Enraged, Wasp tried to trash and struggled to break free, but this time he had made the mistake of flying low to avoid a high aim shot from the fire truck and had been much closer than the last time he had faced the Great War Veteran. Due to the position and fury driven determination, the old medic had a solid hold on his target's frame. "That crazy thrashing won't help this time."

"Bulkhead, get ready incase he breaks free!" Optimus ordered the team's brawn as he transformed and got into position just of to the side of the medbot. This was going to take perfect precision and even faster relaxes, but if successful they will have finally brought this madness to an end. Calculating the exact distance and position of his chosen target, the Autobot leader unsheathed his energon ax, aimed, and sent it soaring. Like flying buzz saw the weapon flew with the curve of the angle it had been thrown and sharply made contact with the flying machine's rear rotor blade.

The smaller rotating blades, which controlled the helicopter's flying stability, sliced off easily from the attack and sent the remaining frame spiraling. Though the sudden uncontrolled thrashing added some resistance to the magnetic pulse, Ratchet had been able to hold on and for the most part controlled which way wounded machine went. Once he had gotten his bearings the Autobot medic had begun reeling in the copter down to the ground, where Bulkhead waited to catch and restrain the robot in disguised that had caused so much trouble for them all. As the wounded flying machine neared the ground, it unsheathed it hidden electrical weapons and opened fired wildly down and around it. The bursts of electricity rained down randomly, but forcefully, hitting anything and everything it their path. Old creates, barrels, and dried old tarps were instantly set a blazed by the numerous missed shots as well as the nearest abandoned warehouse and anything within it. Ratchet was forced to used one of his armed servos to created a magnetic barrier above him and his Prime for protection, causing his hold on the wildly thrashing copter to weaken.

'_No you don't… Not this time!'_ Whirling his wreaking ball with a shorter line for more speed, the largest of the Autobots took aim of the wounded chopper. The swerving flying machine moved toward and above him as it tried to escape without its rear riddle to support it's steering. "This one's for my little buddy!!"

The wreaking ball had been released on the fifteenth rapid twirl and soar through the air like a missile. Without his rear rotor Wasp could not steady himself long enough to see the attack coming, nor could he dodge if he did. The enormous metal sphere struck him low and sent him into an uncontrollable loop. Without his stabilizing blades his had soon became stuck upside down and the wild shooting of his stingers drove him into the building he had set a blaze in his struggles. The helicopter crashed into the lit structure screaming as the entire warehouse caved in over the fugitive. As the Autobots began to move forward to kill the flames and secure the subject, an explosion erupted from the flaming rubble, nearly knocking them off their peds. It was quickly followed by another from the building to the left, and another from the right, then yet another. The flames had to have triggered the detonators set to demolish the aged old structures at a later scheduled date and had set off a domino effect through the condemned area.

"Aaw crud…" The scene in front was disturbingly too familiar to the Great War Veteran. It was when they had lost the Autobot city of Kaon if he remembered correctly. When the main housing area for the troops had been assaulted and crumbled to the ground like a domino structure. The flaming wreckage before him easily casted it's harsh orange lights over his aged features. "If he survives that, I will have officially seen everything."

Prime had his own eerily similar memories of the sudden explosions as he scanned the scene before him on every level he had downloaded into his systems. Checking every wave, every flux, no matter how insignificant it might have been. Anything to get pass the heavy mineral deposits that the residence of their adopted home had tended to used in the creations of their older building structures. "I'm not picking up an energy signature." Which of course didn't suite too well with the young Prime. One, the objective was to bring Wasp in online. Two, succeed the capture with minimal damage possible to the surrounding area. At least the incident was controlled in a very remote part of town that had already been set to be demolished anyway.

Bulkhead had been expecting some kind of attack from the crashed copter and tensed when the explosions began. However having seen that the only movement came from the dancing flames, he had calmed down and had been staring dumbfounded at the destruction. "So… its over?" Torn between the utter shock of it all and almost overwhelming relief, only that one thought really came to mind. "Is it finally over?"

Not wanting to get anyone's hopes up, nor wanting to let his guard down, Prime gave his only honest answer. "Not sure." The Autobot leader stepped forward and activated his built in fire extinguisher and began to drench the flames. "We'll put the fire out and search the wreckage." Bulkhead used a large slab of wall that hadn't fallen over to stamp out what fire was on his end while Ratchet located a decent size metal container close to dock and used it to scoop up lake water and pour onto the smoking mass. Soon each bot picked up a charred support beam and began to stir the mess to fully insure that the flames where dead and to shift through the wreckage. "Get your stasis cuff ready. I don't want to take any more chances with this."

The trio searched for hours upon hours, literally going over every single pile of bricks, every toppled concrete slab, shifting through seemingly endless mud and rock, looking for any sign of the escaped fugitive. There was so much dust, rubble and twisted, rusted metal everywhere they looked, making is very difficult to distinguish between scrap metal from anything that resembled cyberonian armor. On and on the Autobots searched until the sun had long since set and even then they've used their installed headlights to light their way. It wasn't until the entire perimeter had been searched three times before the young Prime finally called off the search.

"Anything to report?"

"Nothing, Boss bot." Bulkhead reported tiredly as he rubbed at his strained wiring in his shoulder joint. Lifting the larger slabs and digging deeper than the others had over stretched them a little.

"Not even streaks of paints." Ratchet grumbled not like it one little bit. They had had plenty of past experiences with enemies that could hide their signature before.

Optimus nodded at the hidden meaning behind the medic's grumbled words. "We'll head back to the base for now." His team has had a long trailing day and knew they all needed to rest. "If we have to, we'll wait a few solar cycles just to make sure." As the team walked off towards the main roads, none had noticed a quick flash of magenta glowing just underneath a particularly low pile of rubble covering a collapsed portion of concrete.

Morayma N. Rodriguez ©2009


	8. Ch 8: Of Faith and Trust

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**Chapter 8: **_**Of Faith and Trust**_

_**Dino-bot Island: Day 9**_

In the days that had gone by Prowl could only marvel at his young student. He had accomplished much in the short time they've had so far on the small island. The ninjabot was sure it was most likely due to the fact that whatever past training and fighting experience the young bot did had before the 'incident' had resurfaced on some level. Most of the beginning training had traces of standard Autobot boot camp sparring and had been familiar to the yellow bot enough for him to grasp it quickly. It was the only explanation he could think of that made any logical sense. However, whatever the reason for it, it had really been Bumble Bee's willingness and determination that had truly pushed him as far as he did. Of course it was a far cry from the level Prowl was at his age, but considering the progress, there was a chance the small Autobot was ready for the next level of training. He could hide himself well enough and take full advantage of his surroundings now and his creativity had grown remarkably. Even Sari had joined in to try and find her yellow companion in this game of Hide'n Seek and had even begun to time the sessions to see how long her friend could avoid them. If the young bot had managed to break his old record by even a few minutes it was jotted down and praised as a sign of improvement.

This time the ninjabot's young student went as far as to cover himself with mud and sand and curled into a ball in order to imitate the texture and shape of the larger rocks along the shore line. Where he had gotten the idea from was a bit of a mystery, but it had worked perfectly. Prowl had sensed his presence in the area, however couldn't pin point his exact location due to the mineral coating and had walked right passed him. It wasn't until he was a few human feet away before the young Autobot uncurled himself and lunged at his teacher. The black and gold ninjabot had barely registered the scraping sound of sand grinding against metal before turning and quickly dodging the lunge and blocking a retaliating kick. The boldness of the small bot had developed as well, albeit a bit earlier than Prowl would have liked consider the early stage of fighting, however it did show the yellow robot would fight back if ever cornered. That and the fact Bumble Bee had also learned well when to back off and wait for his opponent to make all the first moves for him to avoid or counter to the best of his abilities.

All in all, Prowl had developed the beginning of pride in his first ever students. Bumble Bee for his advancements and Sari for her persistence. Both of their achievements would be reported whenever Optimus or the other Autobots comed him from the mainland to check on them. The ninjabot had been meaning to ask his Prime for permission to take his charges to the fair for the last few days as a reward for their efforts. Surely a reward had to have been in order for all the work he had put in. However, he had received virtually no contact from his team in the past three days and could only guess at the reason. He had been tempted to contact them himself, but the fear of being tracked to the island prevented his actions. He could only hope that nothing had happened to further complicate matters, especially since he was running out of time for the opening of the fair grounds. These thoughts and the sickening, frustrating feeling of helplessness Prowl forced aside to focus on Bumble Bee and his advances. Sari had long since found them and had been cheering her best friend on as she kept an eye on the timer in her phone. Using the momentum of a tackle the black and gold ninja bot had flipped the smaller Autobot over his shoulder and watched as his student rolled into the fall and got back up with a slight wobble. The angle had been awkward but he had avoided falling flat on his back.

"_**Optimus to Prowl. Come in." **_It was at that point that slim Autobot had received the pinged of a long awaited call coming in.

"Great work, Bumble Bee." Prowl spoke almost instantly when he received the ping. "I'd say that had been your best effort as of yet." The innocent robot beamed at the praise as he relaxed enough to lower his arms a little. "Take some time to rest and wash up before you get mud in your circuits. Sari may help you with the hard to reach places" That had an excited cheer to erupt from the youngsters and had the Autobot quickly scooping up his tiny playmate and headed for the pond. Knowing those two, it would become a game in no time, which gave Prowl all the time needed. "Prowl here. Go ahead Prime."

"_**I apologize for not getting in contact with you sooner, Prowl."**_ The young Prime's voice had sounded much lighter than the last time the ninjabot had heard it. As if the Autobot leader had gotten some much needed recharge recently. That had to be a good sign. _**"Approximately three solar cycles ago, we were able to track Wasp down to older part of Detroit. The area had been set for demolition and had been cleared out about two years ago and so provided the only logical place to him to hide in."**_ Prowl listened carefully to the report, noticing how it was worded into a proper report normally reserved for the Elite Guard. Something had most definitely had a happened. _**"We've engaged him and had managed a near capture; however it wasn't long before the situation had become drastic. We had no choice but to use force to bring him down. The action had caused him to crash into an abandoned warehouse which detonated the charges that had been set previously on impact."**_

That had the black and gold Autobot to pause for a moment. Had Wasp been so desperate to avoid going back to the stockades that he had actually chosen to deactivate rather than be captured? "Are you sure?"

"_**Yes. The building has been completely demolished and we've checked every frequency possible." **_Optimus' voice came in clearly as he updated his teammate on the most recent events that had occurred on the mainland._** "I waited this long to call you just to be sure it was safe."**_

There were traces of uncertainty in his leader's voice during the update. Enough to tell Prowl that his leader had doubts of some sort about it all. "Then it's finally over…?"

"_**Looks like it..." **_The young Prime paused for a moment, still unsure of the whole situation, yet lacking any real evidence to continue the precautions they had all taken._** "Unless you think there's a chance at trouble; you can come back whenever it's convenient." **_If anything Optimus knew he could count on the cyber ninja's instincts on the matter.

Although naturally suspicious of such matters there truly was no reason not to return to the mainland. Added to that, the up coming day marked the day of the Fair and with it the memory of his student's promise to his best friend. "We have just one more thing to take care of here." Bumble Bee had progress so much in such a short time, even if he still wasn't ready for a real battle. If nothing else he had to give the small bot something for all his hard work. He had earned it. "Afterwards we should be back by night fall at the latest."

"_**Roger that. Prime out."**_

******

_**Dinobot Island Shoreline**_

"Alright now Bumble Bee. This is where all your training is going to come together." Prowl watched carefully as the smaller Cybertronian steeled himself in anticipation. "This is going to be a one on one match." The two stood very still, measuring the other carefully. The Circuit-Su fighter knew that it was still too early to be testing the young one's metal like this, however it was the only way to know for sure if he would be able to defend himself long enough to escape an ambush. "All you need to do is last three nano-clicks with me in combat and you're first level of training will be complete." Besides, the ninjabot felt strangely confident in his student.

'_This is it… This is what I've been training for…'_ The young bot nodded his understanding to his teacher. "Yes, Sensei." His optics shifted for only a brief moment towards his human friend, whom stood well away from the metal titans. _'If I can pass this test… I'll be able to keep my promise to Sari… I have to pass!'_

The small child had caught the glance and mistook it for nervousness. "You can do it Bumble Bee!" Her voice was full of encouragement for her friend. He wasn't going to lose this.

If had been looking at the yellow Autobot head on like Prowl had been, she would have seen the determine look in his wide optics. "Ready…?" The taller robot resisted the urge to smile at the serious nod Bumble Bee gave him. It was so out of character yet at the same time it made him feel proud that he wondered if this was how his old Sensei, Master Yokatron, had felt when he had proven himself ready for more advanced training. "BEGIN!!"

Prowl had been the first to move, since this was all about defense for the young Autobot. He started out with jumping high into the air and coming down with a powerful kick in simulate an attack from the air. The little yellow bot lunged forward in the direction of the kick and rolled under the attacking Autobot. He ducked down on all fours and kicked out just as Prowl landed in the hopes of taking out the ninjabot's legs out from under him. The black and gold Autobot flung himself into a back flip to avoid the low shot, practically soaring right over the smaller attacker. The older Autobot landed in a crouch and lashed out with a strong right jab, striking the ground with enough force to kick up dust as the little bot had rolled to avoid the hit. Bumble Bee quickly hopped on his servos and peds like a startled cat and dodge a sideways chop aimed for his neck. Hastily, and albeit wobbly, the young Autobot tried almost desperately to dodge the rapid oncoming onslaught of punches and jabs and occasional kicks.

"You can't dodge forever!" Prowl yelled in mock fury as he continued the attack until Bumble Bee had his back up against a large tree with no where to run. Despite this the taller Autobot had not let up and charged forward with a punch. "Sooner or later you'll have to strike back!"

As the metal fist came flying towards the small robot's faceplate, he reacted. One servo darted, connecting with the wrist of the attacking appendage, diverting it away from his body and pulling it behind the offending bot. The other servo quickly snaked around Prowl's collar and pulled back. "Sorry!" Bumble Bee cried out in concern as his Sensei yelped at having his servo twisted behind him, not really sure of wither or not to let go of his teacher. They had been other incidents where his Sensei had tested him in such a manner before. "Am I hurting you?"

"Yes, but it's alright." The taller robot grunted but relaxed against the firm hold and bowed his head in submission. "I submit. I know when I'm beaten." He felt the grip loosen and instantly tired to pulled forward fast and twist around, however he was met with the grip tightening in the same instant. "Good. You didn't let your guard down." Then to really test the young bot, Prowl through his weight up and over him. Being a robot meant having limbs that could easily rotate at a complete 360 degree angle. The movement left little time for Bumble Bee to move out of the way and was trapped in a cybertonian size bear hug. On reflexes, the yellow scout thrust both elbow joints back into his captor's midriff and lunged forward rolling into a defensive stance. For a time the two fighters only stood staring at each other silently. "Times up." Just like that, the slim ninjabot dropped his stance and relaxed. "Well done, Bumble Bee." The smile ensured the younger Autobot that this was indeed no trick and as if to further prove his honesty, Prowl cupped a fist in his hand and bowed respectfully to his pupil. "You've passed."

"Yeah!! Bumble Bee!!" Sari cheered happily and jumped wildly at the news. This had been a major accomplishment for her large friend and she couldn't be happier for him.

As excited as the young bot himself had been, he still remembered his manners and bowed respectfully to his Sensei in return. "Thank you, Sensei." After his teacher straightened out before him, only then did the young bot dropped all formalities and scooped up his tiny best friend into a hug. "I did it, Sari! I did it!!" He held her close so she could wrap her arms around his neck as he teacher looked on with a smile on his faceplate. "Now I can go with you to the fair!" The girl's smile had wavered a little at the statement, until she saw Prowl smiling reassuringly at her… and nodded the affirmative.

Seeing this told the child two things. That one, she really did have the chance to share the day of the fair with her best friend by her side and that somehow the danger that had loomed over them had passed. Somehow or other it had passed, and they were free. Not that she had considered the island a prison by any means, mind you, but for Bumble Bee… The idea of the Autobots being forced to keep him under lock and key for his protection was a fear that had laid heavily in her mind. Though she didn't truly believe Optimus would ever be that extreme, there was absolutely no real way of telling, what with that psycho-bot on the loose. Now… now it looks like they no longer have to worry about _him_ anymore.

"Sari?" The yellow robot pulled his dear little friend back after hearing the same odd hitching sound from a few nights back. He found that her eyes were bright and leaking. "What's wrong? Are you tired?"

"Heh, no." She smile warmly at him innocently conserved look as she rubbed at her eyes, not caring for once that he had caught her crying. "I'm just so happy!" The child leaned in and hugged at his chest plate as much as she could. "I'm so proud of you, Bumble Bee!" At this the small bot smiled happily and cuddled his tiny friend; feeling for once in his short memory of life that he had truly accomplished something worth wild in the eyes of his beloved caretakers.

As the Prowl looked on as his pupil's sweet sentimental moment, not even he had noticed the soft glowing of his yellow armor, for surely it had to be a trick of the light. Nor did he noticed the tiny flowers that had bloomed along the grass and bushes nearby as if smiling happily at their shiny friend that would always compliment them when he had the chance.

Morayma N. Rodriguez ©2009


	9. Ch 9: Fine Thin Line

**First and foremost, I apologize profoundly for taking so long to update. I guarantee you I have perfectly good explanation for this and that is… I have just finished wrapping up my final quarter at the Art Institute of Dallas. That's right I'VE FINALLY GRADUATED!!! Now with my calendar free for a little while I decided to introduce another character that's part of the Ultimate Crossover story that's still under construction. I will leave a few clues in this chapter so that my readers and try and guess which character it is. Good Luck!!**

**Chapter 9: **_**Fine Thin Line**_

******

**Downtown Detroit**

The trip back to the mainland had been one laced with the playful laughter of youth, as the two youngsters had been allowed to engage in a round of Hide'n Seek both on deck and the large storage space within the haul of the ship. Prowl watched them amusingly as he steered their course towards the docking bay, taking note that the yellow scout had been putting his new found hiding skills to practice in their innocent game. Despite the lack of cover on the large ocean vessel, the small Autobot had managed to elude his tiny human friend a few times during his turns. However, considering the few time he had just missed the eight-year-old during his seeking turns by not noticing the yellow of her dress sticking out among the tarp coved crates, or her pigtails behind them, the ninjabot made a note to himself to start working on Bumble Bee's observation skills next. Knowing how to properly identify a target and or invading treat is the second step to learning how to defend against it. Once the large cargo ship had been safely brought in to the port and secured onto the docks, the trio soon began to walk leisurely into the city. Prowl walked tall and calmly, with his yellow student matching his pace while chatting happily with Sari sitting on his shoulder.

"Not bad for your first overseas camping trip. Huh, Bumble Bee?" Sari asked cheerfully as she rode on her large yellow friend's shoulder for the first time since the kidnapping incident. Proof that Bumble Bee had certainly grown more confident in how to walk with his tiny friend on his shoulder. Although the young bot would much prefer to hold his favorite human in his arms, like usual, however, he had just passed a very important test that would surely give him a good stand among his caregivers. He simply had to show how much he had grown since his humble beginnings. Sari would understand, she had always understood what he needed. …Still having one hand on her just to make sure she wouldn't fall off couldn't hurt.

"That was a lot of fun!" The yellow Autobot had agreed wholeheartedly as he leaned into the one arm hug she had going up his helmet. He especially liked it when she petted his horns, though he didn't really know why. It just felt really nice whenever she did. "I kept making mistakes with my fighting lessons, but at least I finished level one." He soon had his head tilted shyly at his teacher for confirmation on the claim. He didn't want to say anything that might not be true. "Right Sensei Prowl?"

"Indeed." The slim ninjabot had answered with a clam smile as reassurance to his timid pupil. "It was a bit of a rough start, perhaps." Especially when one considered the short amount of time they had spent on the island, not to mention the 'special' circumstances of their need to train. "However, you had improved quite quickly." A feat that had most certainly earned some praise, considering the young bot now very limited knowledge on the subject. "It would seem you understand the mechanics behind the lessons."

"How many levels are there in each stage, Sensei Prowl?" The young bot asked innocently as he looked up at his teacher hoping for his curiosity to be satisfied.

"It varies from stage to stage." The taller Autobot took a moment to muse over the level count and strategic lessons that came with them. "You have three more levels to complete before you reach stage two." Said levels will focus greatly on agility and combining it with speed for stealth and defense. It would be interesting to see how this 'new' Bumble Bee will step up to the challenge. "However, with a little more practice and you ought to handle yourself well enough in a crisis before then."

"Really?" The innocently shy expression from the student was met with an encouraging nod and calm smile from the teacher. "Thanks, Sensei." The same strange red tint colored the area just below his optics. It seemed to appear whenever the young amnesiac had been paid a compliment of any kind. A side effect of his condition, perhaps?

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." Sari declared as they continued their walk down the surprisingly quiet street. "Let's stop by Robo Burgers before we…"

"**Bumble Bot****!!"**

'_No…'_ She had recognized the voice before they all had turned around and witnessed two powerful blast of electricity careening down right for them. "Oh no, not again!!" Instantly Prowl collided with the smaller yellow mech, whom somehow knew to instinctively pull Sari close to his chest and tried to cover her from the blast. The two mechanical titans rolled twice on the ground before stopping with the older Autobot covering the youngest.

"Bumble Bee, run!" The black and gold ninjabot jumped to his peds and whipped out his shuriken as he stood boldly in front of his charges. "Get Sari out of here!" Allowing the weapons to fly, the guardian had managed to throw the attacking helicopter off balance and forced to land roughly near them. "GO!"

The flying machine transformed into its biped mode and immediately began charging after the fleeing yellow target. Wasp managed to shoot out a plasma discharge at his prey before getting cut off by Prowl. The shoot came short of hitting the fleeing minibot's shoulder but succeeded in diverting his direction into a dead end ally where he took cover. Seeing that there was no other way out and not wanting to risk Sari getting hit, the two youngsters trembled as they hid and waited for an opportunity to run again. They could only watch as their Sensei dodged multiple powerful bolts of plasma shot in rapid session. As the minibot watched the violence that had unfolded before him, his optics had shown gold again and something odd had begun to happen to his vision. The figures in front of him were fading in and out into a completely different set of fighting forms. The images were most certainty not robotic. They looked more 'human' looking like Sari with the texture of their bodies but not, and although he couldn't make out the new beings he did noticed somewhat recognizable emblems glowing against the green one that had, for the moment, took the place of his silent teacher in the fight.

"Prowl!" Sari screamed as the crazy Cybertronian charged the ninjabot with his activated stingers crackling heavily with electricity. Wasp had managed to tackle the taller bot down to the ground, but Prowl managed to grab at the green minibot's wrist and kept him from descending his weapons down on him. "Bumble Bee, use your stingers!"

The yellow scout had been pulled out of his frighten gazing by the small girl's cries and stared down at her in complete bewilderment. "W-what?"

"You have stingers just like Wasp!" The small child explained franticly as they saw their Sensei gradually being overpowered. Then the black and gold Autobot managed to flip their positions and tried to subdue the fugitive as he tried to avoid getting stung by crackling engery. "Use them to help Prowl!"

'_I have… stingers…?'_ The claim didn't make any sense to him. Had he truly had weapons of his own all this time? He couldn't recall ever using any before. If this was true, why wasn't he told before? "B-but… I don't know how."

"You have to try!" Just as those words had left the young girl's mouth, a cry of pain erupted from Prowl as he was blasted back and had actually been pinned by the violent green robot stranger. Wasp had a ped to the ninja bot's midriff . At some point in the fight he had torn off the pole of a 'No Parking' sign and was about to send it crashing down on his taller opponent.

Bumble Bee's large optics had suddenly flashed gold and he reacted. "NO!" In a few swift motions the yellow Autobot dashed forward, stomped down near a manhole, caused the cover to pop up loose, caught the circular piece of metal and sent it flying like a Frisbee towards the attacking green robot. "Leave him alone!"

Wasp had turned in time to raise the pole to block the large flying disk. The heavy sound of metal striking metal echoed loudly as his makeshift weapon had been knocked right out of his servos. "Stupid Bumble bot!" The Cybertronian had growled angrily as he rubbed as his slightly jarred wrist before he activated his stingers and charged them up. The yellow minibot took his stance and braced himself for the attack. "Wasp not want him!" The young Autobot had barely dodged the first blast, which had completely annihilated the unlucky mailing bin that had been sitting just behind him on the sidewalk. "Wasp want Bumble bot!"

All at once the naïve scout had found himself being bombarded with rapid shots of electric plasma. Even as he had maneuvered to get away from the blast, he knew he was in trouble. His training had him dealing with close range attacks not long range. His attacker had gradually been moving closer as he continued the assault. The multiple shots had come all the faster with the shortening distance and soon enough the yellow had began taking some hits. He would have turned tail and ran to hide, if he hadn't seen his tiny human run away from the ally closest to the fight. _'Sari…'_ As scared as he was he had to make sure his tiny little best friend got away. It had took everything the tiered yellow bot had to keep from being pinned down.

"Prowl!" Sari had ran towards her fallen friend as quickly as she could and had began pushing at is head in an attempt to wake him. "Prowl wake up! Please wake up!" Seeing that he had in fact been knocked into stasis, the eight-year-old scampered onto his chassis and pulled her key off her neck. Opening the panel within the bot, the child placed the key into the ignition and turned. "Bumble Bee needs you!"

Wasp had closed the distance quickly and began to swing violently with his activated stingers. The attacks were completely wild and random, and came simply too fast for the now inexperienced and tiered out scout to cope with. _'I can't beat him…!'_ Finally the green robot found an opening in his opponent's guard and stuck full force with a kick of his ped. Bumble Bee had flown back and slammed against a large brick building, but without fully breaking through the structure. Ever since it had been shown clear of the harsh conflicts that would come about with the Autobots and Decepticons, despite all the effort the good bots made to keep the fights away from populated areas, the city had passed a regulation to fully reinforce all building structures that had fallen victim to the clashes. "G-g-get away from me…!" The little robot shook violently where he had slumped down on the wall as he gazed up at the horrible stranger that glared at him with such anger and hatred. The flashes had come back at that moment. _'I'm scared…!' _The sunlight had suddenly gone out and all around him it was dark. The being in front of him was there in the darkness advancing on him with something in his hands that the yellow scout could not make out. _'I can't move…!' _The unknown object was screeching and buzzing horrifically and the menacing green bot had an arm outstretch to grab hold of the frighten youngling._ 'I'm so scared…!'_ Bumble Bee could only hold up his servos crossed just over his head and brace himself for the pain. "Get away!"

_**CLAAAAANG!!**_

Wasp flew with the force of whatever had collided with him. He landed hard on his back and struggled viciously with the black ninjabot that had the audacity to interfere with his revenge. "This Autobot has no knowledge of ever wronging you!" Prowl yelled as he struggled to pin down the surprisingly strong green minibot, while avoiding getting stung by the high voltage of his opponent's weapons. "He doesn't recall anything beyond the past deca cycle!" He dodged a harsh blast that hit and ignited a nearby tree as desperately tried to reason with the fugitive, despite the obvious purplish color optics of insanity glaring back at him. "You've robbed him of his memories and identity! The Bumble Bee you know is gone, isn't that enough for you?!"

'_I let my Sensei down…' _Too afraid and too stun to move, the yellow scout only stared helplessly at the on going fight between the two other bots._ 'All that training and I still can't fight…' _A small voice cried out loudly to cheer the ninja bot on in his fight. The youngest Autobot looked down to find his tiny human friend standing in front of him with her cattle prod out and activated_ 'I even let Sari down…' _The child was tense and gripped at her weapon tightly, fully willing to use it if she had to._ 'All she ever asked was for me to be brave…' _

"Stupid ninja bot!" The green ex cadet screeched loudly through his raspy vocalizer as he twisted til their positions were reversed. "Bumble bot right there!" Prowl twisted hard so that he was once again on top, pinning the crazed bot down again. "Wasp remember!" The two Cybertronian had continued to wrestle in the middle of the street, one always pinning the other in their struggle. "Wasp always remember!" More than once the green transformer had tried to make a dive at the quivering yellow youngling only to be preventing by the every persistent cyber-ninja. "Bumble bot will pay for ruining Wasp's life!"

'_Why…?' _The little Autobot shivered as he tried to curl further away from the violence and anger in front of him while his tiny eight-year-old friend stood guard and cheering their guardian on._ 'Why can't I be brave like Sari…?' _His wide optics had begun collecting again as he continued to watch his Sensei due battle with the terrifying stranger._ 'Why can't I be strong and skilled like Sensei Prowl…?' _Clear, clean oil once again began leaking down his innocent faceplate as he cringed as the mean green mech tried to get to him again._ 'Why can't I just be mean like that robot and just fight…?'_

"Prowl!" Seeing her friend get pinned and held down with the enemy ready to stab him with his stinger, the eight-year-old charged forward with her electric prod. "Get away from him!" Reaching the offending bot, Sari aimed for the nearest seam she could find in the armor and dug her charged prod right in.

Wasp gave an agonized yowled and twisted sharply around to see what had shocked him. What he found was the same puny red headed creature that had interfered with his vengeance the last time he had gone after his hated rival. Annoyed that this… thing… and others like it kept appearing out of nowhere and angry of the fact that the darn thing pretty much bite him, he raise a fist and brought it down sharply. At the last second Prowl managed to buck hard and knocked the bot on top of him off balanced to the point of missing his target and hitting the ground instead. Still the force of the blow had been enough to knock the child right off her feet and lose her grip on her only weapon. Sari let out a scream as she landed and found Wasp buzzing angrily and reaching for her yet again.

'_He's going after her!!'_ The once bright blue optics suddenly burst into gold and an aura of light shown from the yellow frame. "SARI!!" The yellow frame exploded into a bright wave of light. The energy swirled and collected into his hands as he pulled them back and thrust them forward, unleashing a powerful beam of energy.

As the beam of golden energy shot forward something truly bizarre had happened. The flames from the burning tree had suddenly sprung forward and collided with the golden blast as if they were a living predatory that had just pounced on its prey. The two forces of energy rapidly swirled and merged together between Sari and Wasp's approaching servo until the offending appendage met up with something solid and **strong**. The only sound came from the eight-year-old gasping in shock at what had appeared in front of her. Her angle on the ground she could make out the dark silhouette of a broad humanoid figure with what could only be described as red glowing tattoos made to form some kind of odd flame design on their owner. The only movement from the being came from some kind of thin piece of cloth or ribbon tied somewhere on his head as he just stood there body braced and holding back the huge mental hand that had gone after her.

Wasp glared in both anger and bewilderment at the small green organic creature before him. From what he could make out it wore some kind of protective, plated covering around its middle and wore some form of highly flexible red material rapped around its helm where it's optics were. It silent glared right back at the green robot without faltering in its endeavor to keep the large appendage from advancing any further. Wanting to be rid of these annoying pests, Wasp pulled his hand back, had it switched to a activated stinger, and got ready to bring it down. The physically strong creature, with a sudden burst of speed, leaped forward right up to the attacking bot's faceplate. It spun around in the air into a roundhouse kick and connected with the large face and with a deafing clang, sent the green robot flying off to the side.

Prowl, recovering from shock of what had just happened and the added weight being suddenly removed, quickly grabbed the child and dashed away from the clashing figures and over to the downed minibot. "What is that thing?" The child cried out in utter shock as the strange creature dashed forward after the three storied Cybertronian as he tried to get back up on he peds.

"Not sure, but it appears to be on our side." As the ninja-bot continued to watch the battle warily as the smaller green being that had appeared out of nowhere suddenly stood an eerily familiar stance. Its glowing red markings shown all the more brightly as it moved in a formation that flowed with profound practice and precision causing flames to fly out in a similar offensive style of movement. "Incredible."

Sari didn't notice the fighting stances at all as she was too busy seeing to her weakened, and shaking yellow friend. "Bumble Bee, you alight?"

"I feel… funny…" For some reason his vision had blurred severely, a sudden dizziness over took him and had him supporting his weight on his hand and knees and his system had begun to slow down as if he was shutting down. Prowl quickly shifted so that the small bot could lie down in his arms while he scanned his for whatever was causing this odd malfunctioning. "What's that…?" The young Autobot stared at the little green figure that had been fighting with the larger angry green stranger _'It looks familiar.'_

"I don't know." She had only been able to catch a few glances of their rescuer. As to who or whatever it was, it wouldn't stand still long enough for her to get a real good look. "It almost looks like a giant turtle."

"Oh… What's a turtle?" All at once Wasp turned away from the strange creature, jumped into the air and transformed into his flying vehicular mode. The military grade copter hovered high and began to rapidly descend upon the wary group of Autobots. Having no time to carry the downed scout to safety, Prowl could only bend over his friends to cover them and brace for a bombardment of electricity. Wasp began to activate his stingers, about to fire full blast s his fixed target when out of nowhere he gets cut off by a pillar of fire shot from above. An familiar, yet enraged cawing caught the attention of the smaller robot and had him looking upward along with his protector. "Swoop!"

The large, angry Dinobot screeched as he hovered in between the small group of land dwellers and the flying machine that had to audacity to fly in his air space. The air around Swoop's beak swirled with the tremendous heat from his internal flamethrower as his cawed angrily at the military flying machine. "Copter robot hurt friends!" He was mad. Mad, at finding this thing flying around in _**his**_ skies. Mad that he had caught the aerial intruder going after _**his**_ friends! Mad that _**his**_ minibot had actually _**seen**_ the copter when it was made clear that he wasn't suppose to. Finally to top it all off, it was obvious even to his simple processor, if the trembling yellow form and slightly scorched marks where anything to go by, that the helicopter had scared and hurt _**HIS**_ Little Yellow Robot friend! "Swoop hurt Copter robot!"

Immediately, the green robot in disguise swerved to the side and barely dodged a head on shot of fire from the other flyer. This, of course, only angered the Dinobot even further and had him swooping after the helicopter unleashing more flaming pillars of heat. The aerial dog fight was brutal, with Swoop being unable to get in close due to the rotating blades, and Wasp unable to out fly the superior aerial acrobatics of the mechanical Pterodactyl. The transformed fugitive, seeing that he couldn't overpower the metal dinosaur, finally turned tail in an attempt to escape his latest opponent in the hopes of getting at his prey another time. Still wanting to fight and not willingly to allow the air intruder to escape, Swoop flew after the copter without a moment's haste, determined to make it pay for going after his property and invading his air space.

The creature that had engaged the insane robot in battle earlier stood at a distance from the group, watching the two flying titans race off into the sky. _'And just what was that all about?'_ He was confused. He didn't know where he was or what had just happened, only that he had been summoned from his forced slumber and had a huge robot coming down on him. Although he had enjoyed the street brawl he wondered where in the freaking world were the _**others**_. He felt a very weak tug coming from behind him and turned almost viciously at the odd group that had been watching him. The slim black robot tensed instantly and braced itself for what he could only assume was a hostile move from him. The little girl that he had noticed cowering behind him when he stopped that robotic hand was hugging at the yellow robot's head, which from what he could tell was down for the count. _'Must be some kind of wackbag law enforcing machines. Guess the one I tangled with had a glitch.'_ He stared at the odd spectacle for a moment more before looking around for the source of the tug he had felt. The source of what had **risen** him… Then he felt another vive. A stronger sensation at lead away some distance from his current position. Now which way to go and figuring the child would be fine with the overgrown metal babysitter, he turned his back on them and concentrated. His red symbols flashed strongly and the air around him warped as the heat vibrating off his green hide rose until a spark of flame ignited and encircled him. It grew larger as it spun round and around his form until he flew himself lifting off the ground and into the air and flying in the direction of the signal he felt.

*****

**The Plant**

The plant had been in a near up roar at the sight of the condition in which their absent members had return in. Bulkhead had been standing just outside their secret base working on a new sky painted when he had spotted them. Within the moment he had seen the smaller yellow scout being supported by the taller ninja bot, he had ran right up to the two and gathered his shaking Little Buddy into his larger servos. The swat car held Bumble Bee close to his chassis with one servo and had soon gathered Prowl in the other and carried both of them back into the plant and into the med-bay. Ratchet had taken one look at the two and knew that they had been attacked. Apart from being shaken up and a few minor scuffmarks, Bumble Bee looked fine. That left Prowl, being the worst for wear, the Great War veteran immediately began working on the ninjabot's injuries as the black and gold Autobot reported what had happened.

"Then after Swoop ran Wasp off, the creature flew away into the sky, seemly towards the forest." Prowl paused to grit his derma plating against a spark of pain that decided to erupt in the shoulder Ratchet had been repairing. "We escorted Sari home and came straight here without any further incidents."

"The little creep survived after all." Ratchet growled softly in his agitation as he focused on the injuring in front of him. For once in his entire existence, he found himself cursing his hunches for being right. "And now he knows for sure the kid's still online."

"It doesn't matter now." Optimus declared as he held back his own levels of growing worry and anxiety. "What matters is that we find and capture him before innocent people get hurt. We'll have to search the entire city, perhaps even the county, and every possible hiding place there is." Unfortunately, that wasn't all the situation had called for. Steeling himself for what surely will be a spark wrenching look, the young Prime kneeled until he was optic to optic with the little scout and placed his servos on his shoulders. "Bumble Bee, I'm afraid you'll have to stay out of sight from now on." As the Autobot leader feared, the large, more innocent than usual, optics, had widen in shock and confusion. "You're not ready for this kind of action yet. So from now on, you're not to leave the base under any circumstances until further notice." The little bot had worked so hard to try and earn some small shred of independence for himself, and now it seemed that it would be taken away before it was even rewarded.

However, that had not, at all, been what was going through his small scout's processor. "But, the fair…" If he was made to stay there in hiding he wouldn't be able to keep his promise. "Sari said we were going to the fair tomorrow."

"I'm afraid you'll have to miss it." Optimus' tone had been apologetic. He broke eye contact just long enough to sigh before looking up at his protégé. "Sari will just have to understand. It's just too dangerous right now."

"But I promised her..." She had been so excited and happy when he had been allowed to go after finishing his lessons. She'll be so sad if he could go! "I promised her! She said it was going to be very special and said I promised to go." The yellow Autobot gripped at his father figure's arms in desperation. He couldn't break his promise. _**'If you don't keep a promise it means you can't be trusted and you'll wind up hurting the one you made the promise to.' **_He can't break it! "You're not supposed to break a promise. She said so!"

"Bumble Bee…"

"We were all going." The poor bot stepped back and turned towards the rest of his caretakers for help. "All of us were supposed to go." The little Autobot looked up at all their sorry expressions pleadingly for some support. "It can't be that dangerous if we all go together." Seeing the reluctance in the eyes around him, Bumble Bee turned to his Dad-bot once again. "Y-you said so yourself, it's safer to be in a group. Please?"

"The Fair was set up as a celebration to honor the solar cycle of when we've first arrived on Earth." Everyone in the room turned towards the ninja bot leaning against the wall as he spoke for the first time after giving his report. "Sari had her spark set on sharing it with all of us." Prowl lifted his head to look at the two Cybertronians in the center of the room. "Fact is, the reason Bumble Bee, had advanced so quickly in his training is because he was determine to keep his promise to her." The slime Autobot glanced at his young student briefly then faced his leader once again. "Shouldn't such dedication and loyalty be rewarded?"

'_Sensei…'_ Although the metallic amnesiac was truly grateful for the support of his teacher, he understood that it would be his father figure whom will make the final decision. He knew the Dad-bot was only doing his job of think about his safety as well as the other, and after seeing a terrifying example of exactly what he was trying to protect them all from he honestly could not blame his Prime if he refused to allow it. However, Bumblebee simply had to try. He had promised. "Please, Dad-bot…"

How many times have he seen that pleading look? Plenty. How many times had he been able to resisted and say 'no' to whatever he had been trying to get in the past, with that look? All the time. How many times had it been an honest genuine request? Few. How often did those large hopeful optics leaked during those request…? "Alright." Although it was reluctant and had followed a heavy sigh, the tight hug around his neck that came with the teary smile, in a sense, made up for it. "But you're going to need some kind of disguise." Prime stated as he pulled his protégé away from his chassis so that he could look at his faceplate while he explained his reasoning. "Something to confuse Wasp incase he shows up again."

Bulkhead looked at his little buddy and rubbed his clamps around his jaw in thought. Wasp knew the little scout was still functioning and would no doubt try to get at him again, despite the beat Prowl had described. What kind of disguise would, from a distance, through off the crazy helicopter from going after the little yellow bot…? Just like that, the large artist knew the answer. "I think I've got just the thing."

Morayma N. Rodriguez ©2009


	10. Ch 10: Day at the Fair

_**Ch. 10 Day at the Fair**_

_**Dinobot Island**_

'_Shell… Its getting weaker…!'_ He had been flying for a few good hours now trying to pin-point the location of the tugging. However, due to the fact that it was muffled, it had been difficult. Frustration and anger had begun building within his gut and automatically raised the temperature around him to an even higher level. The connection had _**always**_ been felt. It could _**never**_ be hidden from him nor the others no matter how hard the little nuisance had tried to hide from them in the past. He simply _**can't**_ hide from them. It just _**couldn't**_ be done! _'So why the freak'n shell can't I feel him out already?'_ Something had obviously happened and he didn't like it. His only chance at getting any real answers was to track down the fading energy wave and hoped he'd run into at least one of his companions.

Deciding that he needed to meditate in order to focus fully on his intended target, the fire-wielding creature found a relatively peaceful looking line of beach on an island just off the coast of the city. Seeing it's potential the being born of flames landed on a cluster of rocking that overlooked the shoreline. Sitting down in the lotus position he closed his eyes and focused. The heat of the day was till strong even as the setting sun slowly slid below the horizon and his burly green body absorbed it deeply. His symbols pulsed with the collective heat as a red halo began to form around his body until the back of his shell began to feel particularly warm. Soon he found himself following the sensation like a flame following a dry path to a source of fuel.

_**Dinobot Island: The Clearing**_

What he found was a small open area around a small lake. This part of the forest was different than any of the parts he had gone through. The trees were too thick, as if they were trying to hide something among them. The water in the pond was too clear, almost like glass even with the dying light. The plants were far too lush and strong in potency for the norm he'd seen along the way. The very air itself felt… _**charged**_.

SHEEECHH!

The sudden sound of sharp metal being swing through thin air alert the fire being instantly. He threw himself high into the air, went into a backwards flip, and landing right behind his attacker. The offender whirled around with intense speed despite the size of the blade he held. It came down like a tree truck as the fire warrior drew out his weapons. A pair of twin scythes linked together at the base by a chain. The weapon flew upward, crossed, and caught the huge broad sword and held true without breaking despite the intense weight. For a short amount of time the two glowing beings stood tense with their weapons poised and lock into each other. They glared at each other for a while before the white haired teen finally spoke to the green creature.

"I see you've awakened as well." The unnaturally strong teenage boy smirked.

"Nice ta see you too." Matching the near smug tone perfectly, the large turtle parried off the large weapon with his smaller ones. Both strange beings simply stood facing each other, bodies all a flare by their mysterious glowing symbols. "We close?"

"Take a good look." The white haired human nodded toward a patch of land just off to the left.

The fire type creature did as he was told and took in his surroundings. Noting the unusually lush vegetation in the area along with the out of place pleasant climate for the late season. "Oh yeah. That's _**His**_ handy work, no doubt." The reptilian like being soon strolled over to a particular patch of green under a large tree decorated with small flowers. "Always did had good taste, it's not a bad sanctuary."

"I tracked the energy echoes here to this clearing and found it empty." The white haired boy stated as he kneeled to touch the ground. His bizarre purple energy flowed down his arm and seeped into the ground and spread like ripples throughout the clearing. Much like ripples in a pound the energy wave flowed back up to their master. "Been that way for hours." The strange earth type being soon scowled at the limited information that had been given to him from the surrounding soil. He drew his hand away to study the symbol on his palm before fisting it tightly. He looked back up at his fiery partner. "What exactly happened when you were resurrected?"

**The Day of the Fair**

The following day had been met with bright rays of sunshine and a beautiful clear blue sky without a single cloud. There wasn't a single cloud to be found anywhere and no hint of moisture in the air to indicate any coming of rain. All of Detroit was buzzing with the prospect of excitement for the Fair had finally opened its gates for family to come in and enjoy.

"Come on now Sari!" Professor Sumdac called excitedly from outside his daughter's bedroom door. The weekend had finally arrived and with it the day of the Detroit Annual Robotics Fair. It had always been a time honored tradition for the Sumdac family to take part in the festivities and Isacca had a particularly good feeling about this year. "We don't want to be late!"

However, instead of the enthusiastic reply he would normally get along with nearly getting bulldozed by his overly excited daughter; the tone of his child's voice was most certainly anything but happy. "I'm not going!"

"Not going?" Surprised by this tantrum and worried for beloved daughter, the pudgy scientist opened the door and entered. "But why not?" What he found was the eight-year-old laying face down, hugging tightly at her pillow, and sobbing into the plush object. "What is the matter Sari?" He approached her bed and sat down on the edge and placed his hand on the sadden child's back in comfort. "I thought you loved the fair."

"I do… it's just…" It wasn't fair. Bumble Bee had worked so hard trying to learn his fighting lesson on Dinobot Island. He had been so happy to believe he had earned the chance to go. Now… "It's not fair that the Autobots can't come with us."

"What do you mean?" The good-hearted professor asked his sorrowful child.

"You saw the news!" The child wailed unhappily as she turned away from her pillow and pretty much glared at her father. Her eye red and puffy and a spot on her pillow cover wet with tears. "After what happened yesterday, there's no way they'll-"

"No way we'll what?" A deep and joyful voice called from behind the two humans causing them to turn around towards the balcony. What they found was the gentile giant of the Autobot team smiling and hanging from his cannon cord.

"Bulkhead?" Confused, Sari, along with her dad, climbed off her bed and went over to open the glass door that lead outside to the balcony. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to pick you guys up." The good-natured army green robot stated as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "The Fair opens today, right?"

"We?" Had she heard right? Did her large mechanical friend actually say what he had just said? "As in…?" Needing to be sure the eight-year-old ran straight for the edge of her balcony and looked over the railing.

"Sari!" A familiar voice rang from below, full of youthful vigor and excitement. "Sari, are you ready?" The little dark red dot among the large metal frames bounced eagerly as it tried to call her attention to it. "Come on!"

"Bumble Bee!" She was sure her eyes would have bulged right out of her head if they hadn't been so firmly placed in. "Wha- What happened to you?"

"New paint job." Bulkhead explained proudly. He was quite pleased with how the color scheme had come out. "Prime thought it was best for Bumble Bee to go undercover for the fair." Also, since Wasp had in fact discovered that his Little Buddy was still among them, the largest of the Auto knew that the ex-cadet will be looking for a _yellow_ minibot and car this time around.

"I'll be right down!" It was happening. It was actually happening! She was going to get to share the fair with _**all**_ of her friends! Including Bumble Bee! They were all there… and she wasn't even ready yet! "Backpack! Where's my-?"

"All ready taken care of." Issac Sumdac smiled at his daughter as he held up her big yellow backpack ready to be filled with as many prizes as she could win at the fair. "Now let's hurry and climb aboard." With that the two were soon carefully secure on the green robot's shoulder and held on as he lowered all of them down to the ground.

"Sari!" Bumble Bee ran right up to his large best friend and stopped just in front of him. From their position, the Sumdacs had been able to see that apart from the wine red paint job, his black racing stripe and protoform had been painted a cool sliver grey. His sensory horns had been cover with longer pipes that had been made to look like antennas and his jet boosters, also painted wine red and cool silver, were sticking out. They even found a away to change the color of his optics so that instead of soft blue, they were amber yellow! The whole thing made him look like an enthusiastic giant ant rather than a happy bumblebee! "Thanks for getting her down, Bulkhead." The little scout stated with his ever-pleasant smile as he was giving the eight-year-old to hold and carry. "You sure are brave."

At his little buddy's look of admiration, the largest of the Autobot team could only grin and rub the back of his helm in some embarrassment. Bravery was something he had always associated the minibot with since he had a habit of taking on such large odds despite his small stature. The shorter Autobot's new more innocent demeanor made Bulkhead felt a protective need to not let the little bot down in anything.

"Well lets get going already." Ratchet stated with a small smirk before transforming into his ambulance mode and revving his engine a little. "We don't have all day."

At the near playful display, the rest of the Autobot, minus Bumble Bee soon transformed into their vehicle modes. "Bumble Bee, you're going to be riding with Bulkhead." Optimus stated as Bulkhead opened his rear doors to allow the now dark red minibot inside along with the two humans still in his servos. "Your job for the day is to look out for Sari and the professor."

Happy that he had been seen grown up enough to have a job on this adventure saluted his Prime eagerly. "Yes sir, Dad-bot!" Cradling his two tiny charges and quickly hopped into his big best friend's holding.

Seeing that everyone was ready to get going the fire-truck began driving down the lane with the others following just behind him. "Autobots. Roll out!"

_**The Fairgrounds**_

The fairgrounds were swarming with people for all ages. Families of all sorts could be seen moving about from one ride to another and buying from concession stands full of food and treats. Many were trying their luck at the many game stands in the hopes of winning one of dozens of prizes ranging from plush toys, to goldfish, and even grander prizes. Rides ranging from bumper cars, the Ferris Wheel, and finally the large rollercoaster were painted with bright colors and aligned with light bulbs that promised to make the area shine brightly at night. Towering above it all with a pleasant smile and wave for the children that passed by was the red and blue Autobot leader standing at attention near the front entryway of the fair.

"All clear on the north section." The Autobot leader reported through his comm-link to the others as the steady stream of humans made their way pass him. "How about you Ratchet?"

"Sky's all clear on the west side, Prime." The old Great War veteran reported from his position near the medical tent. Apparently one was set up there every year as a precaution against minor injuries and food poisoning. They even had a single ambulance parked nearby for more serious cases but luckily they rarely had to use it. So what better place than for the Autobot medic to be seen without looking too suspicious?

"As well as in the east." Prowl had been listening in and reported before his leader could call on him. Having fought servo to servo with Wasp just yesterday, he felt that he had a better understanding on how to deal with the mad-bot at close range than his companions. He fully intended to use what he had learned during the encounter to his advantage if necessary. "A few commercial planes flew overhead not too long ago, but no helicopters."

After learning that three-fourth lookout points had confirmed clearance from both the sky and ground; that only left one final point to check. "How about you, Bulkhead?"

"Yeah, I see ya!" The giant of a robot could be heard calling happily over the communication frequency. In the background he could hear the younger voice of his small teammate calling back about watching him. "Heh, I'm watching!"

"Bulkhead." The young Prime called a little louder so he could get the attention of his teammate.

"Hmm? Oh!" Suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be on the look out, the green Autobot did a quick scan as he answered his leader's hailing ping. "Ah, yeah, yeah, all clear on my end too, Boss Bot."

"Good." Relieved that so far everything has been going smoothly, the young Prime thought it was time to check on his scout. "Bumble Bee staying close?"

"Oh yeah, he and Sari are coming down the, uhh, Tobo-g-gan Twist, right now." His optics blinked at the name of the ride "Huh, weird name for a ride." Shrugging off the strange title, he went back to watching Bumble Bee rolling along on his wheels on the tracks while holding onto his two human companions. He had felt much bolder to try the ride after both Sumdacs agreed to ride with him. "Heh, he's gotten pretty good at converting into his street lodge mode."

On the other side of the link, Prime smiled at hearing the light praise of one of his protégé's achievements. "His camouflage still intact?"

"Yep. Good thing I had plenty of oil base magenta paint." Granted it took about three solid coats to cover up that bright yellow, but it was well worth it from the results it gave. Even the humans believe his little buddy was a different bot all together. "Might need to patch it up after this ride a little, but other than that nothing noticeable."

"Let's just keep it that way for now." If good luck would have it, those small changes in appearances would be all that they need to keep their amnesiac charge safe for the day. "Check back in about two mega cycles."

"Roger that." He was going to make sure to keep and optic on his best friend thought their time there, that was a fact. "Bulkhead out."

"Hey Bulkhead." Sari's voice caught his attention and had him turn to find Bumble Bee walking over to him with Issac and his daughter in his servos. "I think we scratched your paintjob a bit."

"Its quite minor actually." The kindhearted professor tried to explain as he was sat back down on the ground with his child so that they could show the damage. "Nothing too serious."

"Let's take a look." The little bot before him turned and stretched out his left leg to reveal a strip of yellow showing threw the dominating paintjob. "Yep. Scraped right off there."

This had the little Autobot frowning. He hadn't meant to ruin his bigger best friend nice paint. He had worked really hard and very carefully to make sure his disguise looked nice. Now he went and made a hole in his new color. "I'm sorry Bulkhead."

"Dah, it okay." The soft-sparked artist petted his little friend's helm gently and soon opened his chest compartment and pulled out a barrel with dried paint around the lid area and mop from within. "I brought more than enough to fix that."

"While you're patching him up, I'll be in the restroom." Sari stated and began make her way towards the portal-potties just a ways off from the conception stands. "I'll be right back."

As the large round robot took care to open the lid and store it back in his chest so as no to lose it, the short little scientist took hold on the mop and began to dip it in the barrel. "Okay." After making sure there was enough on the makeshift paintbrush, the human brought it over to the patient disguised Autobot and began applying the first coat. "Here we go now."

"Hey, I wanna paint the Autobot!" A young voice cried out as a little boy came running up to the two Autobots and the man with the paint-covered mop. Before Issac or Bulkhead could explain what they were actually doing, another little voice, this time a young girl, cried out as well. "Me too! Me too!" As she came running she was join by yet another kid. "I wanna try!"

By the time Sari had finish her business and returned to the group, there had now been a pretty good size group handing around a sitting Bumble Bee. "Huh? Hey what's going on here?"

"I don't know." Honestly the green Autobot had no idea what they did to attract the little crowd around them. "I was fixing his disguise and then they all wanted to paint too."

"Ha-ha, hi Sari!" The little bot giggled as some of the children were climbing all over him to find a spot of their own to paint on. "Look, it's one if those buttery-fly things from the island!" He immediately stretched out his lift servo to show her the picture that had been painted on the back of his hand. "You gotta try this, its fun!" Unfortunately the move had exposed the space under the metal limb and part of his side, which the kids instantly pounced one and had him stiffing a little and withering in giggles. "Ha-ha, it makes you laugh a lot too!"

Morayma N. Rodriguez ©2009


	11. Ch 11 Mission Accomplish

_**Ch. 11 Mission Accomplish**_

_**Northwest Section of Fairgrounds**_

The hours had trickled by at a steady pace as the citizens of Detroit enjoyed the many fun-filled activities of the fair. People had laughed in their mirth, screamed and cheered on their favorite rides, talked and gossiped about current events, and were overall having fun through the day. Even the Autobot, giant robot heroes of Detroit and honored guests, had managed to join in the festivities while keeping their guard up for any potential danger. Some of them had even tried their luck at a few of the many game stands provided there. Ratchet, after finding out how quiet and peaceful his look out spot had been, decided to sneak in a light stasis nap. Prowl took interest in a simple yet challenging dart throwing game, that forced him to carefully calculate the distance and force needed to hit a tiny, bright red, balloon among a rainbow of others. Optimus had tried his luck at tossing a teeny tiny white plastic ball into the only bowl of water that had anything in it. Achieving the goal had him winning a goldfish, to which he had no idea how to care for and so ended up giving to a child that had made the attempt before and failed. Needless to say the boy was hysterical.

Meanwhile Bulkhead had followed his excitable little buddy around, whom in turn had followed Sari around to just about every single game stand she could find so that she could stuff her backpack with whatever prizes she could win. The little scout had witnessed all sorts of fun activities from dunking booths to ring toss stands and had even been allowed to try a game that involved hitting a spot on a board with a little mallet in order to ring a bell. It had taken him a few tries do to the fact that he hadn't wanted to break the game, but he had managed to win a chocolate colored teddy bear as big as Sari. Soon enough it was the late afternoon and time for the entire team to regroup and compare notes.

"Great work Autobots." Optimus had congratulated his team on a job well done. Not a single incident, short of a minor nausea, had occurred at the festivities and no sneak attacks from any of their flying enemies. "The fair's just about over and there hasn't been a single incident."

"There is only one event left before everyone retires for the night." Prowl had stated as he kept his audios on high alert for any sounds of whirling chopper blades anywhere in the air. "That would be the robotics show in about three mega cycles."

"The Mayor has asked if we could do a performance of our own." The young Prime had stated with a nod of his blue helm as he thought up of a decent performance. "I'd say now would be a good time to think about…" A large approaching figure had soon caught his attention and had forced him to do a double take. "What the spark?"

"Hey guys…" Bulkhead had called over a bit nervously to the rest of the team. He wasn't sure how the others would react to the sight of his little buddy's new look.

At the sight of the rest of his caregivers the little bot had mimicked his best friend's call, but with far more enthusiasm. "Hi guys!"

"Oh, you…" As they had approached the group of astounded Autobots, it was all Optimus could do to hold in his laughter. "Got a new paint job?"

Bumble Bee was a college of tiny pictures and bright colors over the dark red. Everything a child could paint from an apple to a zebra and everything in between could be found somewhere on the little bot's body. Why, at that very moment the young scout was looking at the Prime with a face plate painted with a black spot just below the center of his optics, three lines on either metal cheek and half circles painted from the tips of his mouth curling almost back towards the black spot. There was heart on one gray cheek and a star on the other. A line of sloppy flowers decorated from his fore helm all the way around, like a crown, with a trio of butterflies hovering just above them near his new horns. Those temporary antennas had white bands around it, giving them the look of candy canes. The sight would be forever burned into his memory banks.

"Heh-heh, not exactly. A some of the children had seen Bumble Bee getting painted and thought it was part of the fair." Professor Sumdac had explained as he rubbed the back of his head in some embarrassment for what had happened. He too had been sporting facial paint in the form of a white face, and two black diamonds on either cheek. "Things… may have gotten a little bit carried away." Studying the happy rainbow mess of a robot again, the short man though that maybe he had been a little too subtle in telling the tale. "On the bright side, the face painting booth next to us raised a lot of money renting out their paints to everyone."

"A little carried away?" Sari had laughed from her position on Bumble Bee's shoulder. Like her robotic friend, she too had been painted with whiskers, a black nose, and kitty lips. "They swarmed all over him like ants!"

"It was fun!" The innocent little bot in disguise had been as giddy as a sparkling, bouncing around on his first play date with others his age. "Bulkhead has some nice ones on his legs too."

"Really?" Amused the red and blue leader had glanced over to the large Autobot.

"Yeah, they got me too." The large bot informed somewhat glumly. It wasn't that he didn't mind being used as a canvas, it was jut that the pictures where on the silver portions of his frame and he couldn't see what had been painted on his legs very well. His friends had told him they were very nice, but he had wanted to see for himself.

"Ah, no worries." Prowl stated while doing his utmost best not to look directly at his now multicolored neko student. "I'm sure it'll wash off in time for the performance." If ever the little scout were to regain his memory, the ninja would now have something to hold over his helm if he should ever bother him again.

The little robot had gasped in surprise and, at that moment, had done a perfect impression of a wide-eyed, overjoyed, animated kitten with its paws up to his collar and huge open mouth grin. "We're going to see a show?" Primus save them all, the only things missing from the situation were the ears and tail.

None were sure just how he had done it, or how he had spoken so clearly considering what he was faced with, Optimus managed to smile and stated. "No, we're going to be in it."

_**Robotic Fair Stage Show **_

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls!" The announcer's deep voice rang clearly through the evening air as the crowd applauded for the last performance. "It's now time to introduce our final volunteers for tonight's show." The giant robot team waited patiently in the wings of the stage for the cue that would signal them to go out and perform. "Detroit's Annual Robotic Fair is proud to present to you, all the way from Cybertron, our giant robotic defenders, the Autobots!"

At the sound of roaring applauses and cheers the mechanical team went out on stage. The lights shone off their polished armor as they waved back towards the crowd. Bumble Bee, now clean of the extra water based paint, stood close to his Prime while holding onto his servo as he waved. He had never seen so many little people before nor had he ever performed anything in front of a crowd before. _**'Sensei Prowl said its not that much different than when Sari watched me spar with him… Maybe it won't be so bad… but there sure are a lot of them out there…'**_ There was a light grip on his servo had him looking up at his guardian, whom in turn smiled down on him in support and comfort. The action had brought out a little smile to the disguised minibot and had also brought up his confidence another level.

"Ready?" Optimus had asked the shy little robot in a low tone.

The younger Cybertronian had nodded his helm eagerly at his father figure. "Ah-ha." Then remembering that they were on a mission, the little scout had switched to respectfully saluting his commander. "Yes sir." With that confirmation, the little bot step forward along with Prowl while the rest of the team backed away to give them room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The announcer's ever-excitable voice rang from the speakers high above the stage as the two robots stood facing one another at a respectful distance. "For your entertainment the Autobots will now display their planet's version of Jujitsu!"

"Jujitsu?" Not recognizing the odd word the little student looked towards his teacher for an explanation, hoping that it wasn't anything bad.

"Earth style Circuit-su." The slim motorcycle explained with a small smile at how quickly the scout understood. "It'll be just like it was on the island." Soon enough the black and gold cyber ninja shifted into a defensive stance, of which the smaller Autobot mimicked. "Just focus on me and remember what you've learned. Alright?"

"Yes, Sensei Prowl."

Thus the first of several shows for the evening had begun. The crowds had the delighted privilege to witness a mini tournament between master and student. Displays of speed, agility, accuracy, and precision were demonstrated expertly by both bots and ended with a crowd-pleasing stalemate. What had followed shortly after they had taken their bows and retreated into the wings, was a demonstration performed by Ratchet and his magnetic powers. Volunteers had been called up to the stage and invited to sit a collapsible bleacher, where once that had settle where soon lifted into the air by a powerful magnetic field surrounding the metal.

So after a few more performances it had been time to execute the finale. It had been agreed upon that Bumblebee would sit this one out as it required skills he was currently lacking. The stunt was to be a tribute to the legendary human stunt driver, Evil Canivil. The stunt will be performed by Prowl in his vehicle mode with assistance from Optimus Prime, Bulkhead, and Ratchet in their respected alt modes. Bumblebee had stood in the wings of the stage in order to watch without wanting to get in the way of his caregivers. Two ramps had been placed just far enough for the three larger Autobots to park side by side each other. From what the young scout hade been able to understand, his teacher would ride fast and hard up the ramp, over all three of the bigger cars and roll down the other one safely.

"Gee, I hope Sensei Prowl will be okay." The little Autobot watch intensively as his teacher revved his engines in preparation for his stunt. A particularly loud and strange creak followed by a near whispered grunt caught his attention and had him looking up towards the rafters. "Huh…?" He saw what he thought looked like one of the taller people he had seen around the fairgrounds; only he was wearing what reminded him of the soft stuff Sari would wear when she was going to go to sleep at night. The funny person was reaching out towards one of the heavy looking lights on the walkway and there were some sparks coming out of it. "What's that?" For once, in his short known life, his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he carefully began climbing up the shaky structure.

"Grrr, lousy robots…" The would-be villain growled with resentment at those whom had taken his place in the crime fighting business the year before. "This ought fry their circuits good." He muttered to himself has he carefully began to blow torch threw the metal joint of the heavy stage spotlight. If getting hit by this thing didn't hurt the huge machines, the electrical current running through it will.

Back then he had been well known and revered as the mysterious Wraith. _**[Comic: Transformers Animated: The Arrival, Issue #2]**_ Ever since that day those retched machines revealed the trick behind his illusions, his career and fame had plumed. He even went as far as to try and frame one of them, the small yellow one that had started it all, so that he could rush in and save the day. However those other, bigger, robots had jumped in and ruin it! He had spent the last year in prison plotting of revenge when an opportunity to escape came in the form on a car exploding outside the prison gates during the chief of police periodical visit. It wasn't hard figuring that those glorified scrap piles would be at the fair. It was, after all, to celebrate machines.

"Hey!" All at once the would-be vandalizer found him in the grasp of a large red and gray metal hand and brought face to really big faceplate with a pair of glowing amber eyes frowning at him. "What are you doing?"

There was a flash of light from the torch accidently coming into contact with a metal beam. It had been so harsh, it blinded the disguised Autobot enough to slip and fall backwards. The ex-hero gave out a scream as he had still been held in the falling robot's hand. Reacting on reflexes, Bumble Bee's free servo stretched out and grabbed onto the support beam and held on as he kept a light grip on the little person he held. A scream escaped the man as he had found himself being held a good twenty-five feet off the ground by the dangling Autobot. The distressed cry immediately brought the attention of all whom heard it upward towards them.

Squinting against the bright spotlights, Sari had been able to see and recognized the large figure above them. "Oh no, Bumble Bee!" A chorus of screams had erupted from the audience as the minibot lost his grip and once again fell.

The little Autobot optics had all at once glowed gold again and his servo shot out, grabbed a protruding beam, rotated on it and building momentum until he paused into a handstand. The crowd below gasped and screamed as the still captured man yelled franticly at the position he was in. Brightly lit determined optics looked down at a clear spot on the stage before the dark red figured bent to fall and used the momentum to rotate on the beam twice more before releasing. The force and speed were not enough to send the bot flying towards the crowd but instead have him falling near the edge of the ramp. His human passenger still screaming, the little bot held him against his chest and curled around him in a protective ball; at that moment a familiar mechanical shifting sound echoed against the cries. Recognizing the sound, Ratchet had reacted by activated his magnets on the floor of the stage and pulled at the metal supports until a crude ramp was made underneath the falling car. The red, trick out looking, compact hit and rolled from one ramp, onto and over the other as it flew, with its scream passenger locked inside, over both Optimus and Bulkhead still in their vehicle mode. The little car had flipped once and the sound of a transformation sequence echoed once again and had the red minibot in disguise landing in a crouched position with his passenger safely cradled in his servo. All were silent for a solid minute before single person in the audience erupted into a round of applauds for the daring feat performed by the smallest Autobot.

The little robot blinked down at himself as he held on to the skinny human in his servo. "…I did it…?" It had all happened so fast he wasn't too sure if it actually happened.

"He did it…" Optimus couldn't help but awed at the spectacle he had just witnessed before him.

"He did it." Sari had been absolutely beside herself with joy, jumping into the air in her excitement and cheering loudly. "He's finally did it!"

"I did it! I did it!" Much like a small excitable child, the little scout had been jumping up and down and he cried happily at finally accomplishing his ultimate goal. "I transformed! I transformed! I've really transformed!"

"Ooooh man…" Unfortunately for the man in his mechanical hand, he had to hang on for the seriously bumpy ride. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"

"Oops. Sorry..." Adopting a more cautious demeanor, the little Autobot carefully put the now dizzy person down where a pair of police officers quickly rushed forward to steady him and take him into custody. "Um, but that should teach you not to try make a big heavy light fall on people." Although he wasn't very sure why the odd little human had tried to do such a silly thing since his caretakers were probably too big for the light to hurt. "Someone could've gotten hurt." Still Sari was with them and she wasn't very big at all.

"Bumble Bee!" He had done it! Her best friend had finally gone and transformed! Two great accomplishments in two days and she had been there to see both!

"Sari!" Happy to see that she was alright, and wanting to keep her away from all the broken glass and stuff, he cooped her up in his servos and cradled her. Then had reached out a servo towards the blue and red fire truck so that he could hug him. "Heh, I did it, Dad-bot. I finally did it!"

"Yes you did, Bumble Bee." The Prime's spark had been swelling wit pride as he returned the hug. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt as proud as he did right then and there for his little soldier. "Yes you did. Great job."

The crowd had cheered loudly in celebration at the spectacle they had witnessed, which only encouraged _him_ all the more. _He_ even had the vessel waved a little to the large group of tiny people while holding onto his favorite one of all and staying close to his father figure. _He_ couldn't believe how so many people where happy for him at finally accomplishing his very first transformation will the frame _he_ dwelled in. _He_ just knew his caregivers would be proud now. As _he_ watched the on going events before _him_ and felt the contentment of his vessel, _he_ thought that perhaps there could still be a way to take it further and learn to better defend himself. Truly if he could accomplish this, then there was no reason why he couldn't continue his studies with the Sensei and help strengthen the frame further.

Throughout all this, none had noticed a figure standing on the very top of a tall pole just off from the stage. He body no longer bored the glowing red flame tattoos from earlier and had allowed him to hide perfectly in his dark little spot. The loose strands of his red mask flapped with the wind as he looked on at the spectacle in front of him. He had recognized the stunted that the yellow machine had pulled. He felt the familiar energy that had vibrated through the metal frame. Just as he saw the remaining light wave of golden waves that flew up towards his spot. He allowed the small waves to hit him dead on and immediately felt the connection he had been seeking. He took a deep breath to fully absorb the pure energy and gave a satisfactory growl as his red aura suddenly flashed in a controlled crimson glow around his entire body.

"Got ya." He smirked as he narrowed his glowing red eyes at the smallest of the robots. His target, at long last, had been found.

_{Exactly who is this strange creature? What is his connection with the white haired boy? And why is he suddenly interested in Bumble Bee? Find out next time in Laws of Nature 3.}_

Morayma N. Rodriguez ©2009


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